Wisconsin Badgers let big lead slip away in brutal 73-63 overtime loss to Nebraska
LINCOLN, Neb. – If Wisconsin’s players and coaches miss out on the NCAA men's basketball tournament this season, they might point to this stunning result as the No. 1 reason they were denied a spot in the field.
"We got what we deserved," UW coach Greg Gard said after UW's 73-63 overtime loss to Nebraska Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena. "I was brutally honest."
The Badgers led by 11 points at halftime and led by 17 points with 16 minutes left in regulation but then inexplicably fell apart on both ends of the floor as the Cornhuskers stormed back.
Three days after their uplifting overtime victory at Penn State, the Badgers saw their record fall to 6-8 in the Big Ten and 14-10 overall.
They fell to a Nebraska team down two starters because of season-ending injuries, a Nebraska team that entered the day 4-10 in the league and 11-14 overall.
Inexcusable.
"It definitely doesn’t feel good when you lose, especially one that you had," senior forward Tyler Wahl said. "Up double digits. Yea, not a good feeling...
"I know it pissed a lot of people off that we lost that one."
Thanks to a rare defensive stop, UW had a chance to win the game in regulation after calling a timeout with 18.2 seconds remaining, including 16 on the shot clock.
Gard wanted to attack lane.
"Get in the paint," he said when asked to describe the play design. "You’ve got to get in the paint. We had the ball way out top and we didn’t make an effort to get in the paint."
Guard Chucky Hepburn got the ball on the left wing, well behind the three-point line and got a screen from Connor Essegian with about seven seconds left.
Hepburn saw three teammates below the free throw line, with Steven Crowl in the lane and Wahl and Max Klesmit on the wings. Rather than trying to get past his man and into the lane, Hepburn held the ball and launched a three-pointer that rimmed out just before the buzzer.
"We got caught up on the last play," he said. "I couldn’t see anything (open). I wanted to attack but it felt like everybody was just cluttered so I didn't want to turn the ball over."
UW's lone highlight in the overtime came when Wahl scored inside for a 63-61 lead with 4 minutes 9 seconds remaining.
Nebraska scored the next 12 points – with six coming from Derrick Walker (18 points, eight rebounds) and four from Keisei Tominaga (22 points, 5-for-11 three-point shooting).
UW's possessions after Wahl's basket:
Wahl missed in the lane, turnover by Klesmit, turnover by Wahl (charge), turnover by Hepburn, missed three-pointer by Essegian, missed three-pointer by Essegian, missed three-pointer by Hepburn, missed three-pointer by Jordan Davis and a missed three-pointer by Hepburn.
BOX SCORE:Nebraska 73, Wisconsin 63 (overtime_)
"Proud of the guys for their effort and resilience," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. "They could have folded when we got down 17, but they just kept coming. That’s the thing you love to see out of your team."
The Badgers made 45.8% of their three-point attempts (11 of 24) in the victory at Penn State and entered Saturday shooting 36.6% overall from three-point range.
They hit 6 of 12 attempts in building an 11-point halftime lead but hit just 3 of 19 after that to finish 9 of 31 (29.0%).
Brutal.
Essegian 11 of 23 from three-point range in his four previous games, hit just 3 of 10 attempts Saturday and finished with 13 points.
Hepburn, 13 of 24 from three-point range in the previous five games, hit just 3 of 12 three-pointers and 8 of 21 shots overall Saturday. Nevertheless, he led UW with 19 points.
Crowl and Wahl failed to do much damage inside. Crowl hit just 4 of 13 shots, most coming in the lane, and drew just two fouls. He finished with eight points and nine rebounds.
Wahl hit just 1 of 6 shots but at least drew seven fouls and had all six of UW's free throws. He finished with six points, seven rebounds and five assists but also had five of UW's 11 turnovers.
"We just weren’t finishing in the paint," Hepburn said. "I had a couple misses. And then we let Tominaga get going."
Klesmit and Davis contributed 12 and five points, respectively.
Perhaps the most galling part of the loss is that UW's defense vanished over the final 21 minutes of the game.
Nebraska scored 28 points in the first 23 minutes 59 seconds of the game and UW held a 17-point lead.
The Cornhuskers scored 33 points over the final 16:00 of regulation to force overtime and then dominated the extra period. They drew 23 fouls and hit 15 of 23 free throws compared to 4 of 6 for UW.
"Defensively, you talk about a complete change in personality," Gard said. "Fouling too much. Too much dribble-penetration. Too much of everything. A complete change of who we were and who we need to be to be successful."
Tominaga started the comeback with three-pointers on consecutive possessions to cut UW's lead to 45-34.
"We let Tominaga get hot and we had to focus more on him and it went haywire from there," Wahl said. "That second half we just couldn’t get a stop. We let guys get open that were on the scouting report – don’t let them get open.
"We were losing our guys, leaving our guys, turning the ball over. A whole bunch of things."
A game they needed to win. And perhaps, an NCAA Tournament berth.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers' NCAA Tournament hopes take hit in brutal loss to Nebraska
