FanPost

Bucky falls off horse in joust with Scarlet Knights.

The Badgers took many runs at the Scarlet Knights but end up on the ground.

The Badgers 5 game winning streak was snapped on Friday at Rutgers, the Badgers lost 64-60 and fell to 9-8 on the season. Rutgers Junior Corey Sanders was a big reason for the Badger’s demise, Sanders had 23 points and was a killer down the stretch. After the Badgers tied the game with 1:57, Sanders hit a pull up jumper and a deep 3 to close out the game for the Scarlet Knights. After the loss, the Badgers fell to 1-4 in games decided by 5 points or less.

The Good

After not playing in the win vs Indiana due to concussion-like symptoms, Brevin Pritzl had a nice game; Brevin scored 13 points on 4-8 shooting. Pritzl like most of the Badgers had a night to forget from the 3 point line, he shot 1-4 from 3.

The Bad

After a superb performance vs Indiana junior center, Ethan Happ had a game that he wishes he could have back. Happ who didn't play in the final 5:33 of the first half had 5 turnovers in the first half alone. "Happ was playing way too fast from early on rushed things all night." Greg Gard on Happ’s struggles. After Happ dropped 32 on Rutgers last year in MSG the Scarlet Knights looked determined to stop Happ from the opening tip, and they did just that.

The Ugly

The Badgers sloppy play was the death of them; the Badgers turned the ball over 14 times in 61 trips with the ball. The Scarlet Knights had 5 points off UW turnovers in the second half while the Badgers had none. "it’d be nice to have 8, 10 of those possessions back." Said Greg Gard after the game when asked about the turnovers. To go along with the turnovers the Badgers could not buy a bucket from 3 point land, the Badgers only had two three-pointers that were able to find the bottom of the net. This should have been a win for the UW.

Young Badgers struggling

Rutgers ball pressure messed with the Badgers rhythm all night, the Badgers came out of the gates shell-shocked, they were not able to score in the first 3 minutes of the game. Rutgers confused the young Badgers with multiple different sets. The Badgers struggled with entering the ball to Happ in the post due to Rutgers fantastic ball pressure Even Happ looked confused on multiple occasions. Many times it looked like Happ was waiting for the double to come but it never came. Other times it looked as if he was not prepared for the double to come.

Badgers can't close out the game

Corey Sanders lit up the Badgers with 23 points, after only scoring 21 points in 3 previous games vs the Badgers, Sanders came up big in the clutch. After a Brevin Pritzl missed 3 point shot Sanders drilled a deep 3 to put the nail in the coffin.

Have a rough shooting night

Brad Davison knocked down a big 3 with 1:57 left in the game, this was the first made 3 point shot of the game for the Badgers… Let that sink in, even if the Badgers make a couple more 3 point shots they would be in a good position to win the game. UW has struggled to make shots all year and this is just another example.

What's next

With the win, Rutgers improves to 11-6 on the season and 1-3 in Big Ten play. Rutgers will play at the Breslin Center vs Michigan State next. As for Wisconsin, the Badgers road trip will continue as the will travel to Nebraska to take on the Cornhuskers.


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