The Wisconsin Badgers lose big halftime lead as they fall on road to Nebraska again
LINCOLN, Neb. – If Greg Gard’s team fails to win the Big Ten regular-season title, the Wisconsin players and coaches might look back at their stunning 80-72 overtime loss to Nebraska as the No. 1 reason.
Sixth-ranked UW led by 16 points after one half, by 18 early in the second half and by 10 with 12 minutes 24 seconds left in regulation but collapsed in a sea of unforced turnovers and missed shots Thursday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The result was eerily similar to last season, when UW led by 17 points early in the second half but collapsed and eventually fell by 10 points in overtime.
No member of the UW contingent was pleased Thursday but no one seemed as perturbed as junior guard Chucky Hepburn.
"Games like this are supposed to be left in the past," Hepburn said. "We’re supposed to know how to finish games. Tonight, we just didn’t come out and show that same intensity we have the past couple games."
Asked about learning a valuable lesson from the loss, Hepburn scoffed.
"Last year showed us we can’t rest with a big lead," he said. "We had a lot of missed opportunities last year and we’re supposed to learn from that."
This loss was more costly.
The Badgers (16-5, 8-2 Big Ten) fell out of first place, one-half game behind idle Purdue (20-2, 9-2).
BOX SCORE: Nebraska 80, Wisconsin 72
Purdue, which handed Northwestern a 105-96 overtime loss on Wednesday, plays Sunday at UW.
"We’re going to come out with a different intensity Sunday," Hepburn said.
Nebraska (16-6, 6-5) improved to 6-0 in Big Ten home games and to 14-1 in all home games this season.
The Badgers shot 50.0% from three-point range and 55.0% overall in handing the Cornhuskers a 16-point loss last month in Madison.
Life on the road wasn’t all that bad for UW, at least for one half.
The Badgers shot 55.2% (16 of 29) in building a 43-27 halftime lead.
Gard wasn't satisfied, however, because he felt his team too often settled for jumpers. His fear that the shooting mark would not last unless the Badgers attacked the paint proved to be true.
"Even in the first half we took some (bad) shots and talked about the shot quality needs to be better," he said. "It’s OK when it is one or two. But when it continues to be questionable decision after questionable decision, we’ve got to catch ourselves and we can’t continue to rely on that."
Gard's team looked uncharacteristically rattled in the second half and in the overtime.
UW hit 4 of 14 three-pointers (28.6%) and 10 of 28 shots in the second half (35.7%) and then went 1 of 3 from three-point range and 1 of 7 overall in the overtime.
AJ Storr led UW with 28 points but had only 10 after halftime. He had just two free-throw attempts and UW finished 8 of 12 overall.
"We really just need to run our offense," Storr said. "Just keep driving and attacking and getting to the free-throw line."
Hepburn scored nine consecutive points in the last 1:48 of the first half to help UW build a 43-27 lead and finished with 13. Max Klesmit scored 11 consecutive points in a span of 1:50 in the second half to help UW take a 63-56 lead with 4:13 left and finished with 13.
Tyler Wahl contributed seven points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals but took only five shots. Steven Crowl was double-teamed for most of the game and took a season-low two shots. He had 13 rebounds but just one point.
As a result, UW finished with just 18 points in the paint.
"It kind of plays with your head," Crowl said of the double teams. "That’s not something you see every day, but I’ve got to be more aggressive and get shots up.
"We’ve got to try to get better shots. And it goes back to me getting the ball in the post a little bit more and being more aggressive and getting more than two shots up."
UW had 16 turnovers – 10 after the opening half -- and the Cornhuskers turned those errors into 18 points.
"I thought we got completely away from what makes us good," Gard said. "The shots we settled for at times and then obviously turning the ball over. Gambling defensively when we didn’t need to gamble. Just doing some very uncharacteristic things."
Nebraska – which had home victories over Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan State and Indiana among others – took advantage.
C.J. Wilcher scored 22 points, Rienk Mast added 20 and Brice Williams added 17 for Nebraska.
That trio combined to hit 9 of 18 three-pointers and compensate for leading scorer Keisei Tominaga finishing with just two points.
"C.J. Wilcher is the one that got going tonight and he had been playing well," Gard said. "That’s not a surprise. He had been shooting it well. He can get it off quick. Doesn’t need a lot of space.
"(Our) offense isn’t going to be there when you’re not getting to the free-throw line and you’re taking a lot of two-point jump shots and bad threes. We’ve got to get back to being more disciplined in terms of shot selection."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers lose big halftime lead as they fall on road to Nebraska
