Biggest takeaways from Wisconsin Badgers' 74-63 loss to TCU in the Rady Children's Invitational

The University of Wisconsin held TCU to 2-for-14 shooting over the final 10 minutes of a game where junior John Blackwell scored 30 points. That in itself should be a recipe for a Badgers victory.

The fact that the Badgers lost a game in which they never really looked competitive should be really disconcerting.

Wisconsin coaches and players hoped the Badgers had already got its bad game out of its system, but the Badgers' one-upped themselves with the 74-63 loss to TCU in the finals of the Rady Children's Invitational. In fact, the mistakes Wisconsin (5-2) showed against the Horned Frogs were largely the same ones that plagued them a week ago against No.9 BYU.

Wisconsin's defense was terrible, an adjective aptly used by head coach Greg Gard during an on-court interview during an early first-half media timeout. The Badgers were sloppy with the ball with a season-high 17 turnovers, and their lack of an inside presence made their offense collapse.

On an 11-day West Coast trip that was supposed to generate momentum heading into Wednesday's Big Ten opener, the Badgers went 1-2 with the only victory coming over a team rated No.72 in KenPom.

"We have to keep pushing forward and improve as time goes on," head coach Greg Gard said. "We will. It's good to get knocked around a little bit and get things exposed. We have a long road in front of us, and we have to get better to keep running down that road."

Here are my takeaways.

Recap: Talk about a Thanksgiving hangover. The #Badgers struggled in virtually every area in an ugly 74-63 loss to TCU in the Rady Children's Invitational finalshttps://t.co/N1zp1dXg7G
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) November 29, 2025

Tone Setting

Wisconsin set the tone in Thursday's victory over Providence with 11 points on its first seven possessions, four coming off Nolan Winter's two offensive rebounds and all coming as a result of attacking the rim. That level of play was delivered by TCU a day later.

The Horned Frogs scored at the rim on the first two possessions as the result of ball movement and proper positioning. TCU's next basket was a missed jump shot that turned into a two-point possession because UW couldn't clean up the offensive glass. The Horned Frogs were more aggressive and physical than UW was, especially in the paint. TCU outscored UW, 36-24, in the lane.

"We got to have more fight, be physical," UW guard John Blackwell said. "There is going to be way more teams out there that are just as physical or more physical inside."

The Badgers also looked out of sorts with who was supposed to be guarding who, leaving guard Liutauras Lelevicius open for perimeter shots that he knocked down. Lelevicius was shooting only 29.6 percent from three on the season but went 3-for-4 against UW because he had time and space to shoot.

UW missed its first seven shots and just stayed in a funk it never could shake.

"Very little of the first half did we do a good job of playing out of the ball screens," Gard said. "We had some around the rim that we threw away when we rolled, but we put no pressure on the rim out of those ball screens. When teams are that aggressive with it, you've got to make them pay at the rim. Our ability to get out of those ball screens faster, put pressure at the rim, and not always rely on popping and changing sides of the floor. i don't think we had one ball screen roll bucket all day."

Little momentum wasted

Wisconsin's only spark of life came from Blackwell, who made up for his uncharacteristically off-the-mark performance against Providence (11 points, 2-for-10 shooting) by dropping 30 against TCU.

Over the last two minutes of the first half, Blackwell delivered a driving layup, hit a spot up three-pointer, delivered a steal on a drive into the paint, and a pull-up jumper in the paint as time expired in the first half.

A lead that was once 14 points was cut to four. Instead of using that as momentum, the Badgers came out flatfooted. TCU missed a pull-up jumper on the first possession but then attacked the rim on the next three and came away with a second-chance dunk, a hook shot jumper in the paint, and a layup, two of the three with an assist attached to it.

Instead of pulling even or taking the lead, TCU pushed with an 8-0 run, the last of which came after a bad pass from Austin Rapp led to a breakaway dunk and a 12-point lead that never shrunk below seven.

"It starts with me, got to come out with energy," said Blackwell, as the run eventually grew to 20-5. "Not just offensively, but defensively for sure.

Frontcourt no shows

The entire offensive had a power outage with a season-low 63 points, a product in Gard's eyes of the fours and five not doing a good enough job playing at the rim, setting screens, and rolling to the rim instead of drifting out toward the perimeter.

Another way to put it, the Badgers forwards were overpassing, shifting the offense to the guards and the perimeter, instead of hunting their own shot.

UW's four forwards combined for five points on 1-for-11 shooting, with starters Winter and Rapp going 1-for-9.

Winter had scored in double figures in five of the first six games, so having an off night at some point was to be expected. However, Winter missed all three shots he attempted, including two from the perimeter where he's shooting 17.6 percent for the season and 32.5 percent for his career (Winter is a career 70.4 percent shooter from two).

Rapp proved he can be powerful in the low post and did it the day before. After going 0-for-7 with no rebounds against BYU, only attempting two shots from two, Rapp admitted he came out with an aggressive edge with Providence. It reflected in his final stat line of 20 points, eight rebounds (four offensive) and three blocks.

That fire was nonexistent Friday. His first rebound didn't come until the 13:57 mark. His first shot from two didn't come until the 13:01 mark. He didn't play the final 9:08 when Gard chose to go with a smaller lineup when it was evident the big lineup wasn't working.

Rapp has the size to compete in the Big Ten but was more of a finesse player and perimeter shooter as a freshman at Portland. That's not what the Badgers staff needs from him, which Gard continues to demand from him.

"Set expectations and you hold the bar high, and help each other get better and hold them accountable," Gard said. "We took a good step forward yesterday. Today not enough."

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