The University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers (21-6, 11-5 Big Ten) fell to the Oregon Ducks (20-8, 9-8) in Madison on Saturday, the Badgers’ first loss since Jan. 29 against Maryland.
The Badgers struggled from the three point line early on, opening the game 0-5 from beyond the arc in the first 11 minutes, with leading scorer grad student John Tonje only attempting one shot in that same time.
Tonje then hit his first basket of the game with just under nine minutes to go in the first half, which was also the team’s first 3-pointer of the game, kicking off an 18-2 Badger run. Tonje had 12 points, including a monster jam at the end of the run that forced an Oregon timeout.
.sno-67bdf58ed33ca {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-67bdf58ed33ca h5 {
color: #000000;
}
Tonje scored the Badgers’ next four points to push the run to 22-4, putting him at 16 points in the first half and leading the Badgers to a 38-26 lead at halftime. The Badgers shot unusually poorly in the first half, going just 2-12 from three, with both makes coming from Tonje.
The Badgers’ season average from three is 36.3% while making over 11 threes per game in conference play which is first in the Big Ten. Instead, they played a more physical, gritty game similar to the classic Badgers’ play style, scoring 26 points in the paint and playing physical defense, holding the Ducks to 11-32 shooting from the field.
After starting the game 6-for-8 with 16 points, Tonje missed five straight field goals stretching into the second half. But, the rest of the Badgers started the half shooting 4-for-6 from three, including two threes from senior Max Klesmit and seven points from senior Kamari McGee to put the Badgers up 62-47 with under eight minutes to go, making it look like the Badgers were going to cruise to another conference victory to keep up in the Big Ten regular-season race.
An Oregon goaltending call gave Tonje his fourth-straight 20-point game as well as his eighth in his last nine games. Across that stretch, Tonje is averaging 24.8 points per game, all since a zero-point performance against USC, solidifying himself as a strong candidate for Big Ten Player of the Year.
Down the stretch, the Badgers were plagued by turnovers and lost the paint completely to Oregon’s Nate Bittle, who led the Ducks on a 16-2 run that ended with a deep three from Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad with 12 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 66 and force overtime.
Oregon took control of the game in overtime, forcing the Badgers to take bad shots as they needed threes to stay in the game. Sophomore Nolan Winter made a three to make the game 71-70, the Badgers’ first three in almost 11 minutes of game time.
.sno-67bdf58ed449a {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-67bdf58ed449a h5 {
color: #000000;
}
Even after taking the lead with Winter’s three, the Badgers were unable to hold onto the lead as Bittle continued to dominate, scoring four straight points to put the Badgers down by three with under a minute to go. The Badgers were unable to find a good shot as Tonje chucked up a three that wouldn’t go down.
A layup from sophomore John Blackwell would pull the Badgers within one but they were forced to foul, giving Oregon the 77-73 upset win.
The Badgers had a season-high 17 turnovers, with 11 second-half turnovers leading to 17 Oregon points. The team only shot six free throws all game, all in the first half, which is a bad sign for a team that is competing to have the highest free throw percentage in Big Ten history.
Postgame, head coach Greg Gard emphasized the need for the big men on the team to take tough shots.
“We got [power forwards] and [centers] turning down shots which puts the pressure back on John [Tonje] to have to take a tougher shot when the rest of us aren’t as aggressive as we need to be,” Gard said.
The Badgers will look to bounce back on Tuesday in Madison against Washington, a team the Badgers shouldn’t have a problem with, but can’t take lightly after Saturday’s performance.