Wisconsin Badgers basketball put themselves in a tighter spot in the Big Ten tournament after squandering double digits lead in the first half against the Penn State Nittany Lions, leading to an awful 86-75 loss.
The Badgers had a shot to go for the no. 2 spot in the Big Ten Conference standings coming into the game. That would have given them a better seeding for the tournament that will come next.
However, Penn State had other plans and decide to play the role of the spoiler for their last regular season game.
The Badgers came out strong early in the game, establishing a 16-3 lead in the first five minutes. The Lions fought back but the hosts appeared invincible as they kept the double digit lead before the halfway mark of the first half.
The game was for anybody’s taking from there as the teams went to the locker room with the Badgers leading, 40-35.
Second half came and the Badgers were just listless, allowing their opponents to score 10 points in three minutes. The momentum shifted and it was coach Greg Gard’s squad dancing to the Lions rhythm.
They lost the game, 84-75.
Wisconsin Badgers’ bad defense on Yanic Konan
Yanic Konan Niederhauser scored just 15 points in the game but Gard has to single him out because of the way the Lions feed off of his presence on both ends of the floor.
“That’s what I saw on tape that he’s a shot blocker,” Gard said about the Lions big man who finished with five blocks along with 11 rebounds.
“The people that I’ve talked to, all the reports on him were he’s a really good player.”
Gard also thought they were punished by Niederhauser, not to mention their awful defense.
“In terms of the offensive side of him, he was a recipient of our defensive breakdowns. We got spread out too much. We bit on shot fakes on guys who are not shooters. We had dribble penetration come and if we’re rotating off him, he’s catching a lob. Sometimes we had nobody stopping the ball.”
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