MADISON, Wis. — Nebraska is now 0-2 on the road in Big Ten play after the Huskers fell 88-72 to Wisconsin in Madison Saturday afternoon.
There were no answers defensively for the hot-shooting Badgers. Nebraska’s first-half offense was inconsistent at best.
“Our defensive edge wasn’t where it needed to be tonight,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Give Wisconsin credit for that. They came out and were moving it, they had a lot of purpose in their offense with their cutting.”
The loss snaps the Huskers’ five-game winning streak and extends a losing streak against ranked opponents to five. Their last win over a ranked opponent was Dec. 4, 2022, at No. 7 Creighton, 63-53.
Paint Touches
Wisconsin did a tremendous job of finding ways to get paint touches and score when they got them. At the half, the Badgers led 51-38 and the points in the paint margin was 22-8 in Wisconsin’s favor.
Did foul trouble hinder Nebraska defensively? In the first five minutes of the game, Juwan Gary, Rienk Mast and Josiah Allick each picked up a foul. Gary played just 10 minutes in the first half, as he sat with two fouls at the 7:10 mark of the first half.
Wisconsin finished the game outscoring Nebraska 36-18 in the paint.
“They exposed us on our double-teams,” Hoiberg said. “Guys were getting right in front of us … They forced us to go solo in our coverage in the post.”
Nebraska was just a tick slow on its defensive rotations, particularly in the lane. That probably had something to do with Wisconsin double-flooding the post, something Hoiberg mentioned postgame. Double flood is getting multiple players in one area, or in Wisconsin’s case, two cutters to the post behind the double team and to the front of the rim.
No Defensive Answer
Wisconsin didn’t just dominate the paint touches and post-scoring. The Badgers shot 7-of-13 from 3-point range in the first half. When they did miss they barely missed.
It was more of the same in the second half. The Badgers shot 6-of-13 in the second half and finished the game an exact 50% from distance, 13-of-26.
“This is a team that when they are hitting their shots it’s one of the top teams in the country,” Hoiberg said. “They were making six a game and hit 13 on us tonight. Give them credit for that, they stepped up with a lot of confidence and knocked down their shots.”
Nebraska came into the game allowing 65.8 points per game. Wisconsin had 66 on the scoreboard with 11:56 left in the first half.
Consistency is something Hoiberg has discussed in the past. In some games it’s half-to-half, in others it’s the offense that is humming, and in others still it could be the defense that is ruling the day.
“Once the ball went up in the air today we didn’t have it like we did in the previous game,” Hoiberg said. “I think we forced 18 turnovers and had 15 steals against Indiana … When they got comfortable it was hard to shut them off. We just allowed that too early in this game.”
Offense Good Enough
Scoring 72 on the road in the Big Ten is usually good enough to be in the game if not win a Big Ten road game.
Nebraska shot 49.1% from the field including 46.2% as a team from beyond the arc. That type of shooting is good enough for this team to compete in virtually every game the rest of the Big Ten schedule.
Keisei Tominaga followed up his 28-point explosion against Indiana with 17 on 70% shooting against the Badgers. Mast added 16 points and Brice Williams 10 points and six assists, but Gary’s foul trouble limited him to just 18 minutes and eight points and Wisconsin’s efficient scoring from all over the court was too much for Nebraska to match.
