The No. 18 Wisconsin men’s basketball team (15-4, 5-3 Big Ten) concluded their trip out west with a stop at UCLA (13-6, 4-4). The trip for the Badgers started out strong with a big win against USC, 84-69. The Badgers hoped to conclude with one more win, and an undefeated trip, against Big Ten newcomer UCLA.
The game started out with fireworks. UCLA hit five straight shots to open up an early 12-6 lead. But, the Badgers remained calm and weathered the storm on the road, mostly behind the shooting of graduate student John Tonje.
Shooting became the main trend of the first half, as the Badgers went 10-for-18 from beyond the arc, including Tonje going 5-for-5 after being held scoreless against USC. The Bruins, however, attempted 14 threes themselves, only making five.
After a hard fought first half, the Badgers found themselves up 41-36, staring down a flawless California trip. The halftime adjustments were noticeable from the very beginning of the second half, as UCLA, who wasn’t shooting the three effectively in the first, completely abandoned it.
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The Bruins fed their big guys, working mostly out of the paint, and found their field goal percentage growing the whole half. The Badgers, on the other hand, kept shooting — as they have most of the season.
They have been an elite shooting team all season, as they’re on pace to have the greatest free throw percentage by a team in NCAA history, and have consistently been in the top 20% in three point percentage in the NCAA throughout the whole season.
By the end of the second half, the Badgers had attempted seven more threes (12-5) than the Bruins, and 11 more threes (30-19) across the entire game. Nonetheless, UCLA slowly crawled back the entire second half, and it ended up coming down to the last possession.
The Badgers put the ball in the hands of sophomore John Blackwell, who was coming off a 28-point effort against USC. Blackwell isolated his defender, got to the paint and faded away to try and tie the game with 9 seconds left. This shot ended with a block by UCLA junior William Kyle III, leaving Blackwell no choice but to intentionally foul, resulting in him fouling him out of the game.
This sequence ended the Badgers seven-game win streak in a two-point loss. UCLA’s changing of strategy, feeding their big men, ended up being the downfall for the Badgers, aided by Aday Mara, a 7 ‘3 sophomore, who scored a career-high 22 points for the Bruins off the bench. UCLA also won the turnover battle 13-7 and outplayed the Badgers defensively forcing six steals and four blocks, while the Badgers only got three steals and a single block.