Slow Starts and Poor Defense Hurt Badgers In Road Loss

Facing their first real test of the young season, No. 20/22 Wisconsin came out slow and never gained much speed, turning a quick 9-0 deficit into a 74-56 loss to No. 10 Florida in Gainesville.

While the Badgers (1-1) did eventually pull within two points midway through the first half, the Gators (2-0) never slowed down, putting up 43 points in the first half on an astounding 18-of-24 shooting. Florida senior forward Erik Murphy led the charge, making all 10 of his shots en route to a career-high 24 points to go along with 8 rebounds.

Having to play their first ranked opponent since the season-ending injury to projected starting guard Josh Gasser, the Badgers seemed unable to stop penetration by the Gator guards. Though star guard Kenny Boynton had an up-and-down night, senior guard Mike Rosario seemed to be getting to the basket every possession. The Jersey City, NJ native finished with 15 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds while playing the point most of the night.

“When they got chances,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said after the game. “They didn’t miss.”

Despite returning all three starters in the frontcourt, UW was manhandled on the rebounding front as well. While the raw numbers were impacted somewhat by the disparity in shooting, Wisconsin consistently allowed the Gators to get second-chance looks, ultimately getting outrebounded 40-21 and allowing Florida to capitalize with 12 2^nd chance points off 9 offensive rebounds.

For a team that led the nation last year in scoring defense (53.2 PPG), the effort on the defensive end was worrisome to say the least. Though many have focused on replacing Gasser’s scoring, the real impact of the injury is already being felt on the defensive end. Without arguably the best perimeter defender in the country (sorry, Aaron Craft is too handsy), the Badgers are forced to slide either freshman George Marshall or junior Ben Brust into the top defender spot, a position that neither appear ready to take hold of at the moment.

“We got away from our defensive scouting report,” UW senior forward Jared Berggren said. “We don’t have excuses but it comes down to being more disciplined.”

Last season, only two teams were able to break the 70-point mark against the Badgers, one of those being in a UW victory over Indiana in the Big Ten tournament. The Gators broke that mark with ease on Wednesday night, never allowing Wisconsin to even sniff the lead after that initial first half run.

Although UW doesn’t figure to see much more of it, the 2-3 zone employed by Florida forced the Badgers to settle for long jumpers, jumpers that just weren’t going down on Wednesday. After having handled a similar scheme in last season’s NCAA Tournament defeat at the hands of top-seeded Syracuse, UW took a step backward in Gainesville. The Badgers shot just over 35% from the field (21-of-59) and were just 7-of-24 (29.2%) from beyond the arc. By forcing 20 Gator turnovers, UW was able to take 17 more shots than Florida but failed to capitalize, making 5 less at the end of the day.

If there was a bright spot in the otherwise tough night, it was freshman Sam Dekker. The highly touted wing out of Sheboygan Lutheran gave the Badgers some much-needed offensive production off the bench, finishing with 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists on 4-of-8 shooting. Facing his first ranked opponent, it was clear that Dekker wasn’t afraid to be aggressive on the offensive end.

“I like what he and (freshman guard Zak) Showalter did,” Ryan said. “He played hard and with enthusiasm.”

Having gotten their wakeup call, the Badgers now must respond when they face Cornell at the Kohl Center on Sunday, kicking off the “regional” rounds of the Las Vegas Invitational.

With just over a week until UW faces its next ranked opponent (Creighton), the Badgers’ next two games will be crucial in getting the train back on the tracks and avoiding an early season skid.

“We have to compartmentalize this game,” UW senior forward Mike Bruesewitz said. “Take it as a loss. Learn from it, correct things and move on.”

UW Athletic Communications and @badgermbb contributed to this report