It is true in any sport that while teams and athletes seek to dominate and overwhelm their opponents, games are often won and lost not by curb-stomping the competitors on the other side of a court or field, but by surviving bad periods of play. Minimizing damage in one’s worst moments enables a competitor to stay in the hunt and then pounce when the opponent goes into a funk or a lull. Shoring up your own weaknesses to limit their negative effects often wins more than maximizing strengths, since sports (like all other human endeavors) are marked by imperfection and failure.
When trying to understand how Wisconsin has rescued its season in the month of February, another piece of a larger puzzle emerges when realizing that Wisconsin doesn’t have nightmarish halves anymore.
You have seen it happen to UW in the NCAA Tournament. You have seen it happen to various college basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament and throughout every college hoops season in your lifetime: A team goes through that one half in which nothing works. For whatever reason, bad play is compounded by bad luck. One shooter misses open shots. Another teammate sees that and thinks he has to compensate… but he forces shots and doesn’t work for the good shot opportunity. The offense collapses. After 20 minutes, a team with March aspirations trails 37-20, and that’s that. The dream dies.
Wisconsin’s struggles for much of this season were manifested in many ways, but one was the dreaded 20-point half. In the six games played from January 17 through February 5, Wisconsin scored 21 points or fewer in a half in four of those games: twice versus Michigan State, once against Purdue and Minnesota. Wisconsin lost three of those four games, part of the Badgers’ struggles before this February revival.
Since the Minnesota game on Feb. 5 — in which Wisconsin scored 20 points in the second half — the Badgers have not struggled in any individual half, at least if we define “struggling” as scoring 21 points or fewer in a half.
Wisconsin’s lowest single-half point total since the Minnesota loss in The Barn three weeks ago: 30, against Purdue, on Feb. 18.
Not only is Wisconsin avoiding a 20-point nightmare half; the Badgers are scoring at least 30 points in every half they play. A mediocre 25-point half is hard to find these days. Even a relatively ordinary 28-point half is something Wisconsin is avoiding; the Badgers are setting a higher standard every time they take the floor.
You can see how much of a difference this makes. The Badgers will try to carry their newfound consistency into March Madness.