Despite a stumble at home that coach Greg Gard called “uncharacteristic,” No. 11 Wisconsin remains in the mix for a top-four seed and accompanying double-bye in the Big Ten tournament. The regular-season title is still in play with four games to go, too.
The Badgers pursue those objectives when they host last-place Washington on Tuesday in Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin (21-6, 11-5 Big Ten) led visiting Oregon by as many as 17 points on Saturday and went ahead 62-47 with 7:57 to play in regulation. That’s when the Badgers’ offense stopped humming, and the Ducks stormed back to tie the game at 66 and force overtime.
The back-and-forth extra period concluded with a 77-73 Oregon victory, ending Wisconsin’s five-game win streak.
Gard said Oregon caused Wisconsin to play with an unusual absence of aggression.
“The stats bear it out,” he said. “When you don’t shoot any free throws, you have 17 turnovers, 11 in the second half — when you turn the ball over like that, it’s a lack of aggression, it’s a tentativeness (and) I felt we didn’t play on our toes and keep the throttle down like we had in the first half.”
John Tonje continued his hot streak for Wisconsin, leading the Badgers with 22 points and seven rebounds. He’s paced the team in scoring for nine games in a row, averaging 24.8 points per game in that span while shooting 53 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from 3-point range. Tonje and John Blackwell guide the Badgers at 19.7 and 14.9 points, respectively.
Wisconsin is tied with Maryland for third in the Big Ten as of Monday, trailing Michigan State (13-3) and Michigan (12-3). UCLA and Purdue, both 11-6, are also vying for a top-four seed.
Before the Oregon loss, Gard spoke about the maturity of his team to turn the page after a three-game skid in December. He said his players — including six seniors or graduate students — don’t get too high or too low.
“I also don’t want to take the fun away,” Gard said, “so I’m not gonna completely (say), ‘Alright, we’re moving on to the next, let’s not enjoy this.’ No, let them. … But then in due time, ‘Alright, now we move on to the next,’ and they’ve done a great job of that, I think in large part due to their maturity and experience.”
Washington (13-14, 4-12) has struggled throughout its first season in the Big Ten and is in danger of missing the conference tourney. The top 15 teams will go, and Washington is two games out of 15th place.
The Huskies hit the road Saturday and lost 85-79 at Iowa before heading to Wisconsin. Washington shot 52.9 percent, its best number of the conference season, but fouled Iowa 21 times, leading to 23-for-26 free-throw shooting.
That followed an 89-85 overtime loss at home to Rutgers last week.
While Great Osobor leads Washington in points (15.0), rebounds (8.7), assists (3.4) and steals (1.9) per game, the backcourt trio of Tyler Harris (12.1 ppg), Zoom Diallo (11.2) and Mekhi Mason (9.5) are playing well down the stretch. All three of them scored at least 17 points against Rutgers, and none of them are seniors, meaning first-year coach Danny Sprinkle hopes to build something for the future.
“Tyler and Mekhi have been terrific,” Sprinkle said after the Rutgers game. “Shooting the ball at a really, really high level, attacking, being aggressive. It’s awesome to see those guys play with that joy and that fire.”
–Field Level Media
