After the Wisconsin Badgers (3-15 Big Ten, 7-21 overall) fell to the Northwestern Wildcats last Saturday afternoon, head coach Bobbie Kelsey straightforwardly summed up the most important part of basketball: “Basketball is about making shots,” Kelsey said.
And Sunday afternoon against the Purdue Boilermakers in the Badgers’ regular season finale, Wisconsin struggled to make shots and, not surprisingly, fell to Purdue in underwhelming fashion 68-48.
Saying the Badgers struggled to make shots Sunday afternoon might be giving them too much credit. UW made only two baskets in the fourth quarter on layups by senior center Michala Johnson and junior power forward Avyanna Young, and both baskets came after more than six scoreless minutes to begin the period.
After shooting a dreadful 25 percent from three in the first half, the Badgers missed all five of their attempts in the second half. They attempted only one free throw, which they missed, and made only eight of their 29 shot attempts.
The Badgers came out of the gates on fire offensively, shooting more than 60 percent from the field en route to their 24-point quarter, but the offensive well dried up in the second period as UW’s struggles popped its lurking head out and the Badgers scored only eight points.
Wisconsin’s defense struggled in the first quarter, so the Badgers trailed by two after one frame. And even though the Badgers’ offense struggled in the second, the defense did not improve by proxy and the Boilermakers took an 11-point lead into the locker room.
It was only 20 days ago that the Badgers got their best win of the year against this very same Purdue team, winning 64-57 at the Kohl Center. Johnson had 19 points that night and senior guards Nicole Bauman and Dakota Whyte added 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Wisconsin held guard Ashley Morrissette to only five points that night, whereas Sunday afternoon, it surrendered a game-high 28 points to the Purdue junior.
Sunday afternoon Johnson again led the Badgers with 18 points, but she received very little help from her teammates. Young tacked on ten points of her own, but both Bauman and Whyte struggled to attack the Purdue defense, which put a severe damper on UW’s offense.
Whyte finished with nine points on 3-of-10 shooting and Bauman finished with seven points, all in the first half, on 2-of-12 shooting.
Bauman contributed in other ways, grabbing seven rebounds and seven assists, but the Badgers needed both her and Whyte to put the ball in the basket more often.
UW has made a habit of falling behind in games, only to go on big fourth quarter runs, but Sunday afternoon, Wisconsin couldn’t muster a run against Purdue’s aggressive 3-2 zone and physical man-to-man defense.
The Badgers’ bench failed to score and the three reserves that did see the floor played a combined 16 minutes.
Wisconsin’s inconsistent bench play has been a key topic of conversation for the Badgers of late, as the youthful UW reserves have seemingly hit a brick wall in terms of production.
And while the bench might have hit a brick wall, the Badgers’ problems Sunday afternoon go back to the starters appearing to be stuck in mud. As a collective unit, it struggled attacking the basket and when opportunities for open lanes did present themselves, UW struggled finishing the play.
Thursday evening, a late charge against the regular season Big Ten champion Maryland Terrapins cut what looked like a no-doubt 20 point loss to a tight six point game in the final minute.
But for a team which prided itself on fighting to the very end, Sunday was an underwhelming performance.
The Badgers now have three days to prepare before the Big Ten tournament begins in Indianapolis, Ind., this week.
