Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard isn’t ashamed of his team’s effort and resilience in Sunday’s 78-70 loss to No. 3 Purdue.
Speaking postgame, the Badgers head coach said his team played better in Sunday’s loss than it did in February’s 75-69 home loss to the Boilermakers.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Gard said. “But again, to come in here and win against this team, you have to make some shots to counter how they plug the paint and obviously with (Zach) Edey inside.”
Related: Wisconsin social media infuriated after Badgers crushing loss to Purdue
Wisconsin shot just 20% from 3 in Sunday’s loss, with five makes in 24 attempts. That was actually an improvement on the team’s shooting compared to the last time the two teams met — a 15.8% effort with three makes in 19 attempts.
Either way, Wisconsin showed impressive resilience in the second half. It cut a large deficit to four points late in the second half and was on the doorstep of a colossal upset win before Purdue pulled away.
The biggest positive was freshman guard John Blackwell, who scored 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting and 2 of 3 from 3. Blackwell is fully healthy and growing into a dangerous offensive threat.
It’s never good to lose. But given Wisconsin’s struggles over the last five weeks, this sign of life may be carry into postseason play.
#Badgers Gard: "We played better than we played back in Madison against them. We’ve got to make shots. That is obvious. But I liked the way we battled."
— Jeff Potrykus (@jaypo1961) March 10, 2024
#Badgers Gard: "I thought we did a lot of good things. But again, to come in here and win against this team, you have to make some shots to counter how they plug the paint and obviously with Edey inside."
— Jeff Potrykus (@jaypo1961) March 10, 2024
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