The Wisconsin Badgers (13-9, 5-7 B1G) fall to the Northwestern Wildcats (16-7, 7-5 B1G), 54-52, at the Kohl Center on Sunday night.
This loss hurts because it’s a game that didn’t need to come down to the wire at all. UW shot 38.0% from the field, went 7-of-15 (46.7%) at the rim and 5-for-11 (45.5%) at the free throw line in a game that was decided by two points.
It’s the first time Northwestern has swept the regular season series against Wisconsin since the 1995-96 season and it’s the first time they’ve won at the Kohl Center since 2018.
The Wisconsin defense held up well, which is one of the positives to take from this game.
The Badgers made life tough on the Northwestern offense and held their two best offensive players, Chase Audige and Boo Buie, combined for 24 points on 9-of-23 from the field and the duo only had four points in the paint.
The very bothersome part is in the last seven games, including tonight, the Badgers are a combined 51-for-90 at the free throw line, which is good enough for 56.6-percent. When you go 7-of-15 at the rim tonight, you can’t go 5-of-11 at the charity stripe and expect to win.
Greg Gard postgame said: “We’ve got to take care of the ball a little bit better and obviously make free throws. In lower possession games like this we’ve got to be much more efficient. The foul line was part of it.”
Wisconsin lost both games to Northwestern by a combined five points. Let’s take a look at the combined free throw shooting in the two games by each team:
- Wisconsin – 14-for-27 (51.9%)
- Northwestern – 24-for-31 (77.4%)
Chucky Hepburn has done a lot of good things in the year and a half that he’s been with UW, but his hero ball stuff gets really old. The last two UW offensive possessions, trailing by one point, Hepburn never even considered passing and instead took contested jumpers.
To be clear, I’m fine with him taking shots in crunch time, but get some ball movement and find a better shot selection instead of taking contested low-percentage shots.
I will say this to try and keep things positive, Connor Essegian is going to be a special player for Wisconsin.
I’ll also say this: You can struggle and search for answers … and NOT fire the head coach. Those calling for Greg Gard to be fired — EMBARRASSING!!!
If you want to be foolish and blame Gard, whatever, but nothing has contributed to more losses than Hepburn’s decision making in playing hero ball.
Up Next:
The Badgers will travel to University Park, Pennsylvania to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions (14-9, 5-7 B1G) on Wednesday, February 8th. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (Central Time) and will be televised on the Big Ten Network (BTN).
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