Defense: C
Wisconsin for the second time this season held a Big Ten opponent to score in the 40’s as the 48 points Wisconsin allowed was the fewest over conference play. The other time was against Penn State when the Badgers won 58-49.
Although the Badgers held Northwestern to 48 points on 31.5 percent (17-for-54) shooting from the field it wasn’t the Badgers best defensive performance over Big Ten play.
For starters, Northwestern was able to get behind Wisconsin’s defense and generate some high percentage shots for themselves as they finished the game with 26 points in the paint. Northwestern was also able to generate some open jump shots for themselves too but they simply didn’t fall.
Considering Northwestern made their first field goal attempt of the game at the 19:09 mark but their next made field goal didn’t come until there was 10:24 remaining in the first half.
That wasn’t the only time Northwestern went at least eight minutes without a field goal. The Wildcats also went nine minutes and five seconds without a made field goal in the second half as in that stretch they missed eight straight shots.
Northwestern struggling to generate a consistent offensive rhythm made it difficult for the Wildcats to make a serious comeback against Wisconsin after the Badgers built their lead back up to double digits.
The one player for Northwestern that Wisconsin didn’t always have an answer for was Pete Nance. Nance was the only player in double figures for Northwestern as he finished the game with 14 points off the bench on 6-for-12 shooing from the field.
After Northwestern got down by as many as 17 points at 28-11 in the first half it was the play by Nance that got Northwestern back in the game. Nance was responsible for scoring eight of the Wildcats final 17 points of the first half as he made a three, scored an additional three points by doing it the old fashion way, and knocked down a jumper.
One person Wisconsin was going to have to contain was Miller Kopp who has been one of the Wildcats most consistent shooters from 3-point range. But he couldn’t establish a rhythm from three like he has in past games as he finished 1-for-3 from 3-point range and overall shot 1-for-9 from the field.
Miller was only one of three players for the Wildcats to knock down a three as Northwestern finished the game shooting a lowly 20 percent (3-for-15) from three.
Despite Wisconsin going through its own offensive woes the Badgers ability to make sure Miller couldn’t get open looks from three helped make sure the Badgers were able to play with a double-digit lead for most of the second half.