The loss to Arizona stung, but Wisconsin is pleased to get out of its daunting stretch 2-1

MADISON – Two days before Wisconsin was set to host then-No. 3 Marquette, Greg Gard was talking about the difficulty of preparing for his team’s next three games.

Those games – spread over eight days – were at home against Marquette, at Michigan State for the Big Ten opener and then at No. 1 Arizona.

Gard gave the standard answer of a veteran head coach:

By putting one foot in front of the other.

You prepare for Marquette. Then you prepare for Michigan State. Then you prepare for Arizona.

No shortcuts.

Although the Badgers (7-3) were outclassed by Arizona, they were able to take two of the three games.

Steven Crowl talks about the importance of Wisconsin beating Marquette and Michigan State

“It was huge to get those two earlier this week,” Steven Crowl said after the 98-73 loss to the Wildcats. “I’m sure people thought we were going to go 0-3.

“Getting those two … and a Big Ten game, on the road, was huge for us.

“We knew we had a rough stretch. We just wanted to attack it.”

The victory over Marquette should remain a quality victory when the NCAA Tournament selection committee meets in March.

The victory over Michigan State was critical because Big Ten road victories are like gold.

After hosting Jacksonville State (4-6) at 6 p.m. Thursday, UW has one more nonconference game before resuming Big Ten play.

The Badgers host Chicago State on Dec. 22 and then are off until they host Iowa on Jan. 2.

UW entered the week one of our four Big Ten teams without a loss in league play. The others were: Indiana (7-2, 2-0), Northwestern (7-1, 1-0) and Illinois (7-2, 1-0).

“Any time you can start the Big Ten season off with a win,” Tyler Wahl said, “it is huge going into January.”

The Badgers' defense was outstanding vs. Marquette and Michigan State but was shredded by Arizona

The Badgers were able to defend at a high level, get to the free-throw line and win the battle in the lane against the Golden Eagles and Spartans.

UW held Marquette to 41.8% shooting, hit 24 of 28 free throws and had a huge edge in second-chance points (18-2) in the 75-64 victory.

UW held Michigan State to 45.1% shooting, hit 14 of 14 free throws and had a 19-8 in second-chance points in the 70-57 victory.

Arizona, by far the best team UW has faced this season, got the better of the Badgers’ defense from the outside and the inside in shooting 58.3%.

“I didn’t think we were as good defensively, not nearly as good as we had been,” Gard said. “But that is in large part due to Arizona and how they attacked us and got us spread out at times.…

“We didn’t keep the ball in front of us. We let rim-runners get behind us (for) lobs. We had jammed up a lot of that stuff the past couple weeks.”

Freshman John Blackwell, who scored six points against Marquette, 10 against Michigan State and a team-best 17 against Arizona, was asked what lessons were learned in the loss to the Wildcats.

“More toughness,” he said. “Following defensive rules. … We’ve just got to keep the defensive principles straight. We’ll be good. This loss taught us a lot. We really got punched in the mouth.”

Gard was asked if he was concerned the collective confidence of the team might have taken a hit because of the 25-point loss.

“I think there is disappointment that we didn’t play better,” he said. “That is a tip of the cap to Arizona. They made us do some things that were uncharacteristic and when that happens against really good teams you get yourself behind the eight ball.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin basketball happy with 2-1 record vs. Marquette, MSU, Arizona