Frigid at the finish, Wisconsin misses another chance in a loss to Rutgers at the Kohl Center
MADISON – One step forward and one step back is no way for Wisconsin to improve its NCAA Tournament resume.
Yet that is what the Badgers continue to do.
Needing another victory to improve their NCAA Tournament chances and climb back to the .500 mark in Big Ten play, the Badgers failed to score in the final 3 minutes 35 seconds Saturday at the Kohl Center and suffered a crushing 58-57 loss to Rutgers.
The difference proved to be Aundre Hyatt’s tip-dunk, which gave Rutgers a 58-57 lead with 1 minute 8 seconds left, and two misses by Connor Essegian on UW’s final possession.
Box score:Rutgers 58, Wisconsin 57
“We got ball where it needed to (go),” UW coach Greg Gard said of the final possession. “Ball doesn’t go in.”
With his team trailing by a point, Gard called a timeout with 11.3 seconds left.
Essegian used a screen from Tyler Wahl and got the ball at full speed on the left wing.
“He came off the screen,” Gard said. “They didn’t really hedge it. He got into the paint. He has made that runner before.”
Not this time. Essegian drove into the lane but missed a floater over 6-foot-11 Cliff Omoruyi. The ball was tipped out to the right corner to Max Klesmit with 5.2 seconds left.
Klesmit drove into the lane to collapse the defense and kicked a pass out to Essegian. The freshman, 0 of 6 from three-point range and 0 of 9 overall to that point, rose up for a three-pointer.
Omoruyi flew out from the lane area, jumped and got a hand on the ball. The ball fell far short of the rim and into the hands of Wahl, but the senior wasn’t able to get off a shot before the buzzer.
Wahl stalked away toward the UW bench and untucked his jersey top, clearly frustrated with another defeat.
“Omoruyi made a heck of a play to come from the paint out to block it,” Gard said.
The Badgers (15-11, 7-9) missed an opportunity to climb back to the .500 mark in league play for the third consecutive time.
Rutgers (17-10, 9-7) snapped a three-game losing streak without Caleb McConnell, the reigning Big Ten defensive player of the year who also contributes 9.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He went through pregame warm-ups but did not play (back spasms).
The block was the second of the game for Omoruyi, who finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
“Huge stop at the end there," Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. "Cliff gets involved, gets a block. Finished up the game on that end of the floor.”
UW, by contrast, failed to get two crucial stops after Kamari McGee (nine points, one assist), hit a three-pointer to give the Badgers a 57-54 lead with 3:36 left.
The Badgers missed their final five shots – three-pointers by Max Klesmit, Jordan Davis and Chucky Hepburn and then Essegian's two on the final possession.
“I thought we got good looks,” said Klesmit, who hit 3 of 8 three-pointers and contributed 11 points and three assists. “Obviously, we’d like some of those to go in. it’s not one person that didn’t score. It’s all of us getting the best team shot possible.”
Omoruyi dunked over Hepburn, who got switched onto the Rutgers center late in the possession, to cut UW’s lead to 57-56.
That came after Wahl was called for a charge with 2:29 left, a foul that wiped out a basket.
Then after Davis missed an open three-pointer, Rutgers got the winning basket in part because of a fundamental breakdown by Wahl.
“I have a lot of confidence in myself to make the right shot, make the right reads,” said Davis, who hit 3 of 6 three-pointers and 5 of 10 shots overall and led UW with 14 points. “Same thing with the guys in the locker room. I trust them.”
Derek Simpson got the ball from Hyatt and drove along the left baseline against Davis but missed off the glass. Wahl came off Hyatt (eight points, nine rebounds) and went to the basket, apparently to help Davis. Yet with no one blocking him out, Hyatt got into the middle of the line and scored on the tip.
The UW players signaled for offensive goaltending and replays showed the ball appeared to be barely on the rim when Hyatt first touched it.
The officials signaled the basket good, however. According to Gard the play could have been reviewed only if the officials had called goaltending.
Defense failed the Badgers in the first half when they lost Cam Spencer on too many possessions and the senior guard hit 5 of 5 three-pointers and 6 of 6 shots overall. He scored 19 of his 22 points to help the Scarlet Knights take a 36-34 lead.
A 41.1% three-point shooter, Spencer finished 6 of 10 from beyond the arc and 7 of 14 overall.
“He is a good shooter that has been struggling,” Gard said, “but we allowed him to get some confidence. That gave not only him confidence, it gave them confidence. That is what you have to battle back against.”
UW slowed Spencer in the second half and eventually battled back to take the lead but missed shots proved critical.
Essegian finished 0 of 7 from three-point range and 0 of 10 overall. He hit two free throws for his only points.
“Anytime you’re a shooter you’re going to go through great days and you’re going to go through rough days,” Gard said. “You’re going to have those moments.”
Steven Crowl and Wahl, both doubled near the basket for most of the day, combined to contribute 15 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists.
But with Essegian struggling and Hepburn getting into early foul trouble and hitting just 2 of 6 three-pointers and 2 of 7 shots overall, UW couldn’t muster enough offense.
Hepburn in the last three games is just 5 of 21 from three-point range (23.8%) and 11 of 37 overall (29.7%). Hepburn entered the day 44.6% from three-point range and Essegian came in at 42.3%.
“I thought he had good looks,” Gard said of Essegian. “Chucky had good looks. I’ll grade out the shot selection. You go 2-for-13 between those two guys from three. I’ll take our chances because they’re both in the 40s.”
UW has just four regular-season games, plus the Big Ten tournament, to make a case it is worthy of a bid to the 68-team NCAA field.
Time is running out.
“It’s pretty tough,” Davis said. “We wanted this one. We’re not doing too hot this season, so we wanted to come in here and take the W. But we fell short.
“We’ve still got a lot of season left. We can still turn it around. We’ve just got to rally the guys in the locker room. We’ve got to keep our heads up.”
More:Shootings at Michigan State hit home for Greg Gard, who has two children in college, one at Michigan
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin men's basketball loses to Rutgers, falls to 7-9 in Big Ten
