Fresh off a bounce-back victory against Penn State that saw a dominant second-half performance by the Wisconsin Badgers, a different Badger team showed up in Champaign, Illinois today. That team went 4 for 24 from three, lost the rebounding battle by 26, couldn’t contain Kofi Cockburn inside and fell handily to Illinois 75-60.
It’s been an up-and-down season in many respects for Greg Gard’s team, the “down” being on full display today as the defense had no answer for the Fighting Illini, the big men got dominated inside and some of the Badgers’ key offensive pieces couldn’t hit a shot all game.
One of the bright spots for Wisconsin was the play of D’Mitrik Trice, as his 22 points on 50 percent shooting represented most of what the Badgers were able to muster offensively.
But the offensive woes weren’t even the story, as a team that prides itself on defense was unable to get stops all game, couldn’t rebound their opponent’s misses and weren’t ever able to overcome their early deficit as a result.
It’s hard to win any basketball game when you shoot 4/24 from deep, lose the rebounding battle 46 to 20 and struggle to stay in front of guards at the top of the key. But against a team with the talent of Illinois? That task becomes nearly impossible.
The sky isn’t falling quite yet in Madison with several critical matchups still left on the schedule, though the team’s 8-5 Big Ten record is starting to put a second straight regular-season crown out of reach.
And if you take a glance at the Badgers’ upcoming schedule, there’s a good chance wins will only get harder and harder to come by as the regular season comes to a close.
The Badgers will return to the court on February 11 when they visit the 4-8 Nebraska Cornhuskers.
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