Badgers suffer frustrating loss at Michigan State: Immediate reaction

There aren’t many venues in college basketball tougher to play at than the Breslin Center. The Badgers were added to the long list of teams to falter in East Lansing and the hands of Tom Izzo’s Spartans, dropping to MSU 71-62.

Wisconsin went ice cold from three-point range, going 5-for-32 (15.6 percent) from beyond the arc — over 20 percentage points below its season average of 36.2 percent. — and had no answers for Michigan State’s stifling defense.

John Tonje finished with merely 11 points on 3-of-13 shooting and Steven Crowl totaled 10 points, leaving John Blackwell as the only Badger to score at least a dozen points.

Michigan State dominated rebounding battle and reeled in 13 offensive rebounds. Jaxon Kohler spearheaded the Spartans’ efforts, racking up a career-high 16 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end.

Despite the outlier shooting performance, Wisconsin went toe to toe with the No. 8 Spartans on the road, which is an achievement in and of itself.

Here are my immediate reactions to the loss:

Blackwell leads offense

When three-point shots aren’t falling, attacking the basket off the dribble is the best way to keep an offense afloat. Blackwell did precisely that, pressuring the rim and scoring a total of 16 points. He was the lone source of offense in the second period until Winter made a three-pointer with 6:57 to play; no other Badger had multiple field goal makes.

Tonje scored nine points in the first 14 minutes of Sunday’s game, but he wouldn’t score again until there was 7:32 left in the second half. Similarly, Crowl scored seven of Wisconsin’s first 10 points and finished with merely 10 points.

Blackwell did go 0-for-6 from three, several of which were questionable decisions, and made a pair of critical errors late in the second half. He committed an unecessary foul on a made basket by Jaxon Kohler and threw the ball out of bounds on the next possession.

Defense keeps Badgers competitive

Two of Wisconsin’s first four baskets came from beyond the arc, with Crowl’s three-pointer at the 15:42 mark pushing the Badgers ahead 10-4. Over 17 minutes of game time would pass before a Badger three-pointer would find the bottom of the net, as the team missed 14 consecutive attempts from distance.

Yet, the Badgers led by two points and halftime against the No. 8 Spartans — largely due to their defensive effort. Michigan State shot just 31.6 percent from the field in the first half and players not named Jaden Akins combined to go just 7-for-25 in the period.

Jase Richardson was noticeably missing for most of the first half, as the talented freshman committed two early fouls and played just five minutes. The Badgers struggled to contain Richardson in the second half, yielding eight points and six assists to the guard.

Still, Wisconsin showed its mettle on the defensive end, limiting Sparty to 39.4 percent shooting from the field and notching four blocks and three steals on the day.

Klesmit’s absence looms large

Klesmit suffered what’s being called a lower leg injury in the first half of Wisconsin’s blowout win over Washington and was unavailable Sunday. His absence opened a spot for Kamari McGee in the first unit, who went 1-for-8 from the field and 0-for-5 from three to pair with a 3:2 assist-to-turnover ratio.

As a whole, Wisconsin’s offense relied heavily on isolation scoring, with assists coming on nine of their 22 makes. Klesmit, the team’s leader in assists per game, had been relied upon as a tertiary playmaker and reliable ball-handler.

The severity of Klesmit’s injury remains unknown, but he was spotted pregame wearing a walking boot on his left foot. With merely one week remaining in the regular season, Klesmit’s health should be toward the top of the list of concerns for Badger fans.

What’s next:

Wisconsin will travel to Minnesota to face the Golden Gophers on Wednesday at 7:30pm. The game will be broadcast on the Big 10 Network.