The Badgers bounced back in a major way at the Kohl Center on Sunday.
The Wisconsin Badgers flew past the Nebraska Cornhuskers in an 83-55 win on Sunday, getting back in the win column after their seven-game winning streak was snapped against UCLA on Tuesday.
Wisconsin took off with a very fast start in this one and they never looked back, spoiling Connor Essegian’s return to the Kohl Center in major fashion.
Here are three quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s 83-55 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday.
Quick start
On Tuesday against UCLA, the Badgers had a slow start in both halves, which plagued them in a close, one-possession game.
Well, Wisconsin was determined not to let that happen again, and they came out screaming against Nebraska at the Kohl Center on Sunday.
The Badgers started the game on a 19-2 run, where the team hit their first 7/8 shots and 5/6 threes. John Tonje and John Blackwell were the leading culprits, as the former had two threes and a fastbreak layup, while the latter had a three and a layup off a turnover.
That set the tone for the remainder of the game, as the Badgers fended off a Nebraska 11-0 and the push that followed with a strong end to the first half, going on a 16-2 run over a five-minute stretch to secure a double-digit lead heading into the break.
When Wisconsin starts fast, they’re able to overcome a number of their short lulls in between periods and still come out strong, as they did on Sunday in the blowout win.
The runs didn’t stop there though, as the Badgers started off the second half hot too, going on an 18-7 run over the first 9:33 to make it a 25-point lead. From there, this one didn’t ever come close to competitive, as Wisconsin led by at least 18 for the remainder of the period.
Unlike in their loss to UCLA, Wisconsin started hot in both halves on Sunday and it paid off dearly.
Live by the 3
From early on, it was clear that the Badgers were going to live by the three against Nebraska, who made a big effort to eliminate the post presence of Steven Crowl with constant double-teams.
That led to open shooters with good passing from Wisconsin, resulting in 37 three-point attempts on 63 total shots. Not only did the Badgers take a high volume of threes, but they also sunk a high portion of their attempts, going 17/37 (45.9 percent) from distance.
John Tonje led the way, heating up early with a pair of triples and knocking down five total in the game, en route to a 27-point performance in the win.
John Blackwell continued his recent stretch of quality play, knocking down four threes on seven attempts from distance, ending up with 14 points.
Kamari McGee, Nolan Winter, and Max Klesmit each had multiple three-pointers as well on the afternoon, resulting in a quality day across the board from deep.
With the concerted effort to take a good volume of three-pointers, the Badgers did not see the free throw line much on Sunday, shooting only eight shots at the charity stripe. But it didn’t matter, as they still poured in 83 points in the blowout win, bouncing back in a big way.
Defensive ball pressure
Against UCLA, it felt the Badgers struggled at times with their defensive ball pressure, allowing dribble penetration too often, which got the Bruins downhill and able to score without a consistent three-point presence.
Well, that wasn’t the case on Sunday, as the Badgers were pesky from the jump, disrupting passing lanes, while cutting off those drives that usually lead to open shots.
The Cornhuskers also missed a fair share of their open shots from three, but it was a much better defensive effort, as Wisconsin limited Nebraska to 21/62 (33.9 percent) from the field and 10/30 (33.3 percent) from three, resulting in only 55 points allowed.
Not a single Huskers player scored over 11 points, as the Badgers shut down each one of Nebraska’s top scorers in an effective way. Brice Williams shot 4/12, Juwan Gary shot 2/12, and Connor Essegian shot 3/10 from the field in an overall ugly game for head coach Fred Hoiberg’s squad.
Wisconsin returned to their usual marks in the turnover department, giving up a takeaway only eight times, while forcing 12 turnovers from Nebraska.
More importantly, the points off turnovers disparity was huge, as the Badgers capitalized in a major way, outscoring Nebraska 17-3 in the department, with some of those buckets serving as big momentum-swingers for Wisconsin.
Need to bounce back from their loss earlier in the week, the Badgers responded to the challenge on both sides of the court, leading to a 28-point victory.