Reeling Badgers need to string together victories in order to sneak into the NCAA Tournament
Jeff Potrykus
MADISON – Tyler Wahl acknowledged an ugly thought had crept into his mind.
Wisconsin could miss the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
With the Badgers having lost eight of their last 11 games, a trio by a combined nine points, they sit in 10th place in the Big Ten at 6-8 and just 14-10 overall.
They are on the outside of the 68-team field compiled by most analysts/bracketologists.
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“That’s always in the back of your head,” Wahl said Saturday after UW’s overtime loss at Nebraska when asked about the team’s NCAA hopes. “That is the goal every year, to make it there.
“The way we’ve been playing recently it’s not looking too good, so we’ve got to pick it up.”
Pick it up over the last six regular-season games and in the Big Ten tournament in Chicago or miss the NCAAs for the first time since the 2017-2018 season.
UW’s next chance comes at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Kohl Center against Michigan (14-11, 8-6).
The Wolverines, like UW, need to string together victories to secure a berth in the field. They missed a chance for a quality victory Saturday against visiting Indiana when they suffered a 62-61 loss.
More:Michigan basketball has lots of work to make the NCAA tournament. But here's why it can.
Michigan led for 33 minutes 54 seconds but went scoreless after Hunter Dickinson's basket gave the Wolverines a 61-58 lead with 5:12 remaining. The Wolverines missed their final seven shots and suffered one turnover.
“Whatever we were doing wasn’t working,” Dickinson told reporters after the loss, adding the Wolverines might need to go back to the drawing board.
What did head coach Juwan Howard think?
“I'm not quite sure what he means by ‘back to the drawing board,’” he said. “I would just say this. We’re 8-6 and we have a tough opponent coming up on the road. And that's a game that we have to of course prepare and get ready for it, and we're looking forward to the matchup.
“Still doesn't change anything. One game at a time.”
The No. 1 question facing UW coach Greg Gard is how his players will respond after blowing a 17-point second-half lead.
Gard after the loss said the Badgers got what they deserved and added he was brutally honest with his players in the locker room.
The players made available for interviews after the loss – Wahl, Chucky Hepburn and Max Klesmit – all acknowledged UW should have been able to protect the 17-point lead in the second half.
Wahl, usually cheerful, acknowledged players were seething. Klesmit was blunt. Hepburn clearly was deflated.
“We’ll see how they react,” Gard said.
Perhaps more than anything, Gard wants to see his post players attack the rim and score or draw fouls.
Steven Crowl hit just 4 of 13 shots in the loss to Nebraska and drew just two fouls. Wahl hit just 1 of 6 shots but drew seven fouls. As a result, he had all six of UW’s free throw attempts.
“You have to finish in the paint,” Gard said. “That’s why we’re not shooting enough free throws. You’re shooting six free throws because you’re not going through contact.
“You’re not finishing. You’re avoiding (contact), falling away, twisting, turning and doing everything but taking it through with some power toward the backboard.”
UW assistant Joe Krabbenhoft noted Nebraska successfully double-teamed Crowl and on a handful of possessions when Crowl got the ball against a single defender he failed to capitalize.
"He has been double-teamed a lot lately, kind of taking away some one-on-one post stuff," Krabbenhoft said. "There were two or three against Nebraska where he got the ball in good position and he rushed it. He didn’t have his balance, so we show him that and you work on that....
"When he gets it going and he is able to play more one-on-one, he gets into a little more rhythm. When teams are throwing some double-teams at him and he can’t get to his moves, I think then when gets the ball he rushes it, maybe doesn’t play on-balance and doesn’t have as much pop because his base isn’t as strong."
Crowl acknowledged he rushed several shots because he anticipated a double-team that came late or didn't come at all.
“I definitely could have finished a lot better,” he said. “Even the ones through contact I’ve got to be better and make those, too.”
Dickinson, 7-foot-1 and 260 pounds, and reserve Tarris Reed Jr., 6-10 and 260, no doubt will try to get physical with Crowl and Wahl, though the Wolverines generally have not doubled the post this season.
UW’s duo has to take the fight to the Wolverines big men. Both teams are desperate. The team that attacks first Tuesday and sets the tone will enhance its victory chances.
“We’ve got to go back out there,” Wahl said. “We’ve got to flip the switch and put a full 40 minutes together if we want to make the tournament.”