The Wisconsin Badgers did not deliver an offensive masterpiece on Wednesday night against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. They still didn’t shoot the three especially well — 8 of 23 — and they missed five of 16 foul shots in a game they lost by seven points. Wisconsin still can’t get to the foul line regularly, either, a continuing sign of the inability of this team to drive the ball hard to the tin and draw shooting fouls. Yes, some of the offensive flaws and limitations seen in previous road/neutral losses are still there. The 14 turnovers — most committed in the game’s first 16 minutes before a much cleaner second half — are unacceptable. Some problems have certainly lingered for UW.
Yet, Wednesday night was a clarifying moment for the Badgers. They didn’t play poorly on offense. Flawed, yes, but hardly the barren box score of previous weeks. They didn’t merit an A-minus, but they also didn’t merit an F, either. A grade of C-plus or B-minus is probably fair for Wisconsin. Scoring 65 points on the road, shooting 48 percent from the field, should normally get it done… but it did not.
If I told you before this game that Kobe King would hit 7 of 12 shots and score 18 points; that Rutgers would hit only 5 of 19 threes; that Wisconsin would outscore Rutgers at the foul line (11-9), earn more free throws (16-13), and commit fewer fouls (17 compared to 19 for RU), you probably would have concluded that Wisconsin would win.
This game removed the idea that the offense is the main thing holding this team back. The idea that Wisconsin can’t shoot well in a building other than the Kohl Center has been demolished. The TEAM didn’t have a bad offensive game; Nate Reuvers and D’Mitrik Trice had bad offensive games.
The issue is bigger than the offense itself, even though the offense still carries notable flaws and hasn’t yet found a formula which will fix them. Wisconsin’s problems run much deeper than the offense; we will explore this in future articles this week at Badgers Wire.