Wisconsin Basketball: 3 takeaways from Badgers loss to Tennessee

Wisconsin Basketball fell to the No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers 80-70 in a key non-conference matchup on Friday Night at the Kohl Center.

It seemed as if every time Wisconsin Basketball gave a punch, Tennessee would have an answer back. In a game where the Badgers were unable to take a lead at any point in the game, the Volunteers withstood a few flurries from the Badgers thanks to tremendous poise down the stretch and a 24-point outing from Northern Colorado transfer Dalton Knecht.

Although Wisconsin was unable to get over the hump tonight, there are certainly long-term positives when playing a team of Tennessee’s caliber this early in the season. Not only can help exploit many offensive or defensive issues head-on rather than later on in the season, but it can serve as a valuable learning experience as the Badgers continue their trek on their difficult non-conference slate. Here are three takeaways from the Badgers 80-70 loss to Tennessee.

First half defensive woes

From straight line-drive drives to baseline drives to going underneath ball screens to letting Dalton Knecht heat up, it was a troubling first-half defensive performance from a team that ranked 19th in the country in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency last year, according to KenPom.

The Badgers, who allowed the Volunteers to shoot 55.6% from the field and the three-point line in the first half, were unable to defend the pick-and-roll efficiently and struggled mightily to defend and contest Tennessee at the rim.

Most of these defensive mishaps, however, are fixable and this game can hopefully remain an outlier for Greg Gard and company moving forward.

Issues at the line

Last year, Wisconsin shot a mere 69.1 percent from the line, according to TeamRankings, placing the Badgers at 287th in the country, respectively.

Tonight, Wisconsin connected on just 14 of 23 free throw attempts (60.8 percent). Tyler Wahl, most notably shot 2 for 7, missing key free throws down the stretch in the second half.

Although the Badgers are doing a better job at getting to the line than last year, Wisconsin needs to shoot free throws at a higher percentage if they want to continue to be more aggressive offensively. Because the Badgers only connected on 9 for 18 on layups (largely due to Tennessee’s tremendous interior defensive presence), being unable to finish at the line creates more complications on the offensive side of the floor.

It’s a long season

Remember, this is only November. We are not even one week into the season, meaning there are  plenty of opportunities for Wisconsin to grab big-time non-conference wins shortly.

Wisconsin will still have to travel to Providence, Arizona, participate in the 2023 Fort Myers Tipoff and take on No. 5 Marquette at home in the non-conference portion of their season. Although it’s a very challenging non-conference slate, strength-of-schedule metrics will be on their side all year long — giving the Badgers leeway even if a few more losses approach the horizon.

Tonight may not have been the Badgers night, but a lot of credit must go to the poise, physicality and toughness of this talented Tennessee squad. One regular-season loss has never defined a team’s season, and this will not this be the case either.

Next up for the Badgers features a road tilt against the Providence Friars on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 5:00 p.m. CT.