The Badgers strength was turned into a weakness in a loss to Maryland on Wednesday.
The Wisconsin Badgers knew that coming into a tough Xfinity Center atmosphere was going to be a challenge. And when the lights shined the brightest in the second half, they struggled to close out Wednesday’s game against the Maryland Terrapins, dropping a 76-68 game on the road.
It was a tough back-and-forth battle from the opening tipoff, as the Badgers got off to a hot shooting start, but turnovers kept Maryland in the game before both teams began to find their rhythm.
In the second half, the team struggled to get going, despite productive outings from their top two stars, leading to their second loss in three games and fourth in conference play.
Here are three quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s 76-68 loss to the Maryland Terrapins on Monday.
Threes serve as strength and kryptonite
Early in the game, the Badgers got off to a hot start from the field, and five of their first eight field goals came from deep.
Turnovers were an early struggle, but Wisconsin shot well enough from three to remain competitive and hold the lead for much of the first half before the Terrapins had a late-half push to get the advantage going into halftime.
As he’s been in a number of games recently, John Tonje was the answer for the Badgers in the first half, hitting three three-pointers, while scoring 11 of Wisconsin’s 31 points in the period.
But, outside of Tonje, the Badgers weren’t very efficient from deep, shooting just 3/11 in the period from three. Max Klesmit was just 1/5 from three, while Kamari McGee, Xavier Amos, and Carter Gilmore shot just 1/4 from three off the bench.
Overall though, the 37.5 percent efficiency from deep was good enough to keep the score at 32-31, even with an uncharacteristic eight turnovers in the first half.
On the other hand, Maryland had a different story. While the Badgers started hot from three before waning, the Terrapins started the game 1/7 from distance before connecting on four of their last six threes to bridge the gap and take the lead.
Miguel Selton was responsible for two of those triples, while Tafara Gapare hit a three off the bench as well, helping spark the comeback for Maryland.
In the second half though was where the tides began to turn in favor of the Terrapins. Beginning to find their offensive rhythm midway through the period, Maryland began to really get a groove from deep, hitting threes on three straight possessions, which got them their biggest lead of the game at the time at 52-48.
The barrage of triples didn’t stop there, as Maryland finished the second half shooting 7/11 from deep, which offset an ugly 6/16 inside the arc. That, paired with the late-half free throws, got the Terrapins to 44 points in the half, which was good enough to put the Badgers away.
Wisconsin, on the other hand, really struggled from three in the second half, shooting just 3/11 from deep in the period, with John Tonje accounting for two of those threes. Outside of him, the team shot just 1/8 from three, with Max Klesmit, Steven Crowl, Nolan Winter, and Kamari McGee combining to shoot 0/6 from deep.
Coming into the game, both teams shot around 36 percent from three. One team was able to eclipse that mark, while another fell short. That proved to be a key difference in the game.
Defensive lapses
Wisconsin looked very solid defensively in the first half, especially when it came to limiting star freshman Derik Queen inside the arc.
Queen shot just 1/8 from the field in the first half, with nearly every shot coming inside the paint, as the Badgers collapsed near the rim to make life difficult for the freshman. Additionally, Wisconsin limited secondary scorers Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice, who combined to shoot 3/12 from the field.
With those three shooting just 4/20 from the field, the Badgers would usually be in a good place. But, the eight turnovers hurt them, as did a late-half collapse, where Wisconsin gave up a 7-0 run over a two-minute stretch, with Maryland hitting a pair of threes and a free throw.
But, the lapses defensively came more so in the second half, as runs paved the way for the Terrapins. Midway through the second half, with the Badgers leading 48-43, Maryland fired away on an 11-point run, hitting a trio of threes and a layup on four consecutive possessions.
While there was a ton of back-and-forth action from there on out, Wisconsin never led from that point, ultimately losing by eight.
Another key moment came after the Badgers pulled within one after a Nolan Winter layup, trailing just 57-56 with 5:53 remaining.
Maryland came back with another short run, as Ja’Kobi Gillespie hit a jumper and then capitalized on a Steven Crowl turnover with an and-1 for Julian Reese, extending their lead to six with five minutes left.
From that point on, Wisconsin never made it a single-possession game, leading to the loss.
They were small parts of the game, but a few defensive lapses, capped with offensive woes led to Wisconsin slipping just enough in the 76-68 loss.
Bench struggles
For almost the entire year, Wisconsin’s bench has been one of their biggest strengths. However, that unit struggled in their minutes on Wednesday, and the Badgers couldn’t get enough momentum to muster a run.
Kamari McGee, usually the heartbeat of the Badgers off the bench, struggled with his efficiency on Wednesday, shooting 2/8 from the field, while being a -19 in 23 minutes of action.
Carter Gilmore was a -12 in 17 minutes of action, scoring two points on 1/2 from the field, while Xavier Amos missed both of his threes and Jack Janicki was a -10 in nine minutes of action.
Maryland was more reliant on their starting lineups, but sixth man DeShawn Harris-Smith and seventh man Tafara Gapare were +9 and +2 in their 17 and 19 minutes of action, respectively.
It’s a smaller factor, but the bench has been an underrated part of Wisconsin’s success this season, and they couldn’t provide the spark the team needed during some of Maryland’s runs.