The Badgers blew a 12 point lead on Sunday in the second half in a loss.
The Wisconsin Badgers saw their five-game win streak come to an end on Sunday, as they lost 73-71 to the USC Trojans at home in just their second home loss of the year.
It was a game where Wisconsin fell behind early, climbed back and took a huge lead with a major run, and then struggled to connect on shots in a tough ending.
Here are three quick takeaways from the Badgers loss to USC on Sunday.
Threes can’t fall
Wisconsin is going to live and die by the three. And that has come especially true in their losses this year. In their five prior losses this season, they were 35/137 from three (25.5 percent from the field). In each of those games, they fired a ton of threes (averaging over 27 a game), but were just ice cold.
On Sunday, it was one of their worst performances of the year from deep. The Badgers were an ugly 9/37 from three (24.3 percent from three). When you take and miss that many shots from three, you’re usually going to lose.
I thought there were a couple too many threes too early in the shot clock, where Wisconsin could’ve gotten a better shot, but it was also just a rough outing. Wisconsin was firing early and often in the first half, but they were even colder in the second half (4/19 from three). They ended the half 1/9 over the final 10:15.
Wisconsin won’t have many shooting nights like this, but there was bound to be one tough night after a couple of strong shooting days in the last few games. But it’s tough to win when missing 28 threes.
Second half comeback and collapse
The Badgers had a good finish to the first half after trailing by as many as 10 early in the period, as an Austin Rapp three gave them a two-point lead to end the period.
That was trumped by an even better start to the second half, as they had an early 9-0 run, thanks to seven straight points by Nick Boyd. That was extended out to a 17-2 run and the Badgers were cruising to a 58-46 lead. They were playing good defense, got contributions from the bench with Carrington and Rapp scoring eight in the run, and had the Kohl Center crowd behind them.
But, from there, the offense went stagnant, and things took a turn for the Badgers.
USC went on a quick 6-0 run, and things were suddenly 58-54 with just over eight minutes left. Wisconsin responded with a Nick Boyd fastbreak layup, but the Badgers went scoreless for the next 3:29 as USC went on another 8-0 run to retake the lead 62-60.
It was a tight back-and-forth battle from there that involved three lead changes and two ties over the next three minutes, and Wisconsin was still within two with 40 seconds left with a chance to tie the game. But Nick Boyd couldn’t get a layup to go, and USC got out to a two-possession lead with free throws to put the game away.
Starters efficiency
There have been some rough nights shooting-wise this year, but we saw the starters really struggle from the field on Sunday, outside of Nick Boyd.
Boyd was a strong 10/17 from the field, scoring 29 points, while grabbing six rebounds, dishing three assists, and hitting eight of his nine free throws.
But Wisconsin didn’t have another player on the team shoot over 40 percent from the field. And the rest of the starters combined to shoot 10/38 (26.3 percent) and 5/21 (23.8 percent) from three. When the Badgers score 80 points, they win. To get there, Boyd needed a boost from another player, which just wasn’t there to the extent Wisconsin needed on Sunday.
John Blackwell and Nolan Winter are usually the two guys who step up, and they were the only other two in double figures on Sunday. But they combined for 23 points on 26 shots. Andrew Rohde had his highest volume of the season, taking 10 shots, but was just 2/10 from the field.
Wisconsin has overcome some poor shooting nights with a select few stepping up. That wasn’t the case on Sunday and they lost, but still only by two.
Category: General Sports
