Wisconsin was handed its second defeat of the season on Monday night, falling to Richmond 62-52 in the Legends Classic. Here are our top three takeaways from the game for the Badgers.
Wisconsin never had any business being in this game.
The Badgers certainly didn’t play their best defense of the season against the Spiders, who shot 46.4 and 35.3 percent from the field overall and long-range, respectively. Richmond guard Blake Francis torched Wisconsin with 19 points, many of them coming in critical moments when the Badgers were threatening to tie or take the lead.
However, many of the shots Francis knocked down were quite difficult, and Wisconsin was able to hold the other two members of Richmond’s high-scoring backcourt trio, Jacob Gilyard and Nick Sherod, well in check. The Badgers held the Spiders to 62 points, far below their season average of a 92.5 coming into last night’s contest. Overall, the Badgers’ defense was sufficient to win the game.
What doomed Wisconsin from start to finish last night was its putrid performance offensively.
The Badgers shot a woeful 17-50 (34%) from the field including just 7-27 (25.9%) from beyond the arc. They also committed a season-high 15 turnovers. Simply put, very few teams are going to win games when they put up those kinds of numbers.
However, Wisconsin somehow was still in this one late in the second half and found itself tied with Richmond at 50 with a little under five minutes remaining. The Badgers didn’t make a single field goal the rest of the game, which fit into the narrative of the rest of the contest for Bucky: whenever Wisconsin had the opportunity to tie or take the lead throughout most of the game, in many cases the Badgers either threw up an awful shot, committed a turnover or gave up a silly foul.
As a result, no matter how close the score was, it just never felt like Wisconsin had a chance in this one.
Wisconsin looks increasingly likely to be a team that will live or die by the three this season.
When the Badgers have gotten hot from long-range this season, this is a group that has looked capable of beating just about anyone they will face on their schedule. However, when the shots inevitably are not falling at some point, as was the case against Richmond last night, Wisconsin will be in danger of losing to most squads it will match up with the rest of the way.
It is true that last season’s squad experienced a similar dynamic. The difference between then and now? Over the last few years, if the shots weren’t dropping and Wisconsin needed a bucket, it could dump the ball down low to arguably the nation’s top post player in Ethan Happ, who was obviously more than capable of creating an opportunity for himself near the rim.
It’s unreasonable to expect him to be as deadly in the paint as Happ, but at this point, the Badgers desperately need Nate Reuvers to emerge as a consistent scoring option in the post to make this offense a bit more multidimensional.
Reuvers very well could become that guy at some point this season. We have seen flashes of brilliance from him in the paint on multiple occasions so far this year, including the first half in last night’s contest in which he scored ten points and deployed an array of moves near the basket.
However, the consistency from Reuvers was not there the rest of the game; he would ultimately finish 6-14 from the field, and like the rest of his teammates, could not buy a basket in some critical moments.
While Micah Potter’s return next month could help immensely in giving the Badgers more of a presence down low, Greg Gard needs more physicality and efficiency from Reuvers moving forward.
Tyler Wahl continues to impress.
This feels like it has been one of the top takeaways from each game Wisconsin has played this season, but man is Tyler Wahl fun to watch.
He’s had a hiccup here and there in a few games this season, but overall, the true freshman from Minnesota does not play like a rookie and continues to live up to the reputation he built on the recruiting trail as a versatile, hard-nosed player who will do all the little things to help his team win games.
He finished with a career-high seven points, two rebounds and a steal in 16 minutes of action against the Spiders last night, with that steal coming in a huge moment for the Badgers: with Wisconsin down five with seconds to go in the first half, Wahl poked the ball away as Richmond was setting itself up for the final shot before intermission and proceeded to drill a buzzer-beater from half-court. The shot brought the Badgers back within two and looked like it would provide them with a much-needed boost of momentum.
folks its over tyler wahl with the play of the year pic.twitter.com/SvQPhTxXd1
— Big Ten Geek (@bigtengeek) November 26, 2019
Wahl’s long-range shooting continues to come along nicely as well: in addition to that heave from half-court, he knocked down a big three in the second half to keep Wisconsin within four with about 11 minutes to go in the game.
Overall, Wahl continues to look like a guy who is going to have a major impact on the success of this program throughout his career in Madison. I have a feeling Gard is going to be giving him an increasingly long leash off the bench as the season moves forward, especially given the inconsistent play of others in the rotation.