The Wisconsin Badgers lost for the first time since December 10th against the UCLA Bruins 85-83 on Tuesday. The Badgers had won seven straight prior to yesterday's loss. Wisconsin now resides at 15-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten.
Here's what went wrong for Wisconsin last night.
Wisconsin hasn't been bad at turning the ball over this season, as they only average 10.5 per game, but they definitely struggled early in this one and ended up turning the ball a lot in the first half which gave UCLA some easy opportunities in transition.
The Badgers only turned the ball over 13 total times, but that can't happen against strong defensive teams like UCLA who thrive off of turnovers and points they can score after them.
Wisconsin didn't have an answer for 7'3 Aday Mara who shot 7/7 from the field and made some free throws late in the second half. He continued to attack Steven Crowl and Carter Gilmore down low which proved to be effective.
Wisconsin hasn't faced a size mismatch like Mara yet this season so it'll be important down the stretch for the Badgers to have a more succinct game plan to defend bigger centers like him.
I don't want to blame the loss on fouls, but it certainly didn't help. Jack Janicki got called for an intentional flagrant foul in the first half which led to an easy four points for UCLA.
Wisconsin lost by only two points.
UCLA was fouled on eight straight possessions at one point in the second half and attempted 28 total free throws. That is their most of the season yet. Wisconsin only averages 17 personal fouls per game. They had 23 in this contest.
Road games are never supposed to be easy and home whistles are a pretty normal thing, but it was clearly frustrating for the players and coaching staff to lose by such a small margin when a large part of the points they gave up were free throws.
Overall, Wisconsin played a tough opponent on the road and only lost by two points. The Badgers have a favorable opportunity against Nebraska this Sunday and then head to College Park for yet another Quad 1 game.