One of the more subtle truths of sports — known by everyone but not always at the forefront of one’s mind — is that when a team plays a truly awful half, the opponent needs to make sure it takes full advantage. When one team plays terribly, it needs to pay a supreme price.
This truth is part of the story of how the Wisconsin Badgers led Bo Ryan to his first Elite 8 as UW’s head basketball coach.
At halftime of the 2005 East Regional semifinal in Syracuse, the North Carolina State Wolfpack led Wisconsin, 30-21. A nine-point lead is a solid lead, but it was far less than it could have been or — from a North Carolina State fan’s viewpoint — should have been.
Just how atrocious were the Badgers in that first half against N.C. State in the 2005 Sweet 16? Scoring only 21 points is enough of an indication of how awful that half was for UW, but the ultimate indicator was the comparison of Wisconsin assists to turnovers. The Badgers didn’t create ONE assist in that half, and they coughed up 11 turnovers. That is as bad as it gets, as bad as one could possibly imagine.
Yet, Wisconsin — after all of that — was down only nine. A minor miracle, truly.
They probably should have been down by 19.
When Wisconsin outscored North Carolina State by 18 points in the second half, UW had not suffered a narrow loss. It had won and won with some degree of comfort in spite of its terrible opening 20 minutes.
Wisconsin slapped a 44-26 second half on the Wolfpack, reeling off 13 straight points early in the half to take a lead and forging a 26-7 run at one point. The Badgers hounded North Carolina State’s star scorer, Julius Hodge, limiting him to 4-of-16 shooting from the field. Wisconsin hit 58 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half.
Alando Tucker hit 9 of 17 shots, scoring 22 efficient points for Wisconsin. Mike Wilkinson hit 5 of 8 shots and scored 17. Wisconsin had enough offense and plenty of defense, limiting NCSU to 38-percent shooting from the field. The Badgers made the Wolfpack pay for not building a much bigger lead at halftime. Bo Ryan, who had reached the Sweet 16 in 2003 but had not been able to come any closer to the Final Four, had finally reached the Elite Eight, moving Wisconsin closer to the center of the national conversation in college basketball.