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Biggest takeaways from Wisconsin Badgers' 90-60 loss at Nebraska

Wisconsin falls flat in its Big Ten conference road opener, leading to anger and frustration from head coach Greg Gard
Benjamin Worgull|
Dec 10, 2025; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers forward Jared Garcia (15) shoots the ball against Wisconsin Badgers forward Nolan Winter (31) and forward Braeden Carrington (0) during the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Dec 10, 2025; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers forward Jared Garcia (15) shoots the ball against Wisconsin Badgers forward Nolan Winter (31) and forward Braeden Carrington (0) during the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

In two opportunities to show it can be a contender, the University of Wisconsin has turned into pretenders.

Two opportunities to earn a Quad-1 win against a ranked opponent away from home have resulted in similar results, the Badgers doing a host of uncharacteristic things as they watch the deficit grow to at least 30 points.

But while November's loss No.9 BYU in Salt Lake City was a setback, a performance that exposed all the team's weaknesses covered up by a soft opening schedule, Wednesday's 90-60 loss to No.23 Nebraska was embarrassing on multiple fronts.

UW (7-3, 1-1 Big Ten) was out of sorts offensively and looked less-than-interested defensively, a bad combination in a loaded Big Ten Conference with two-thirds of the league ranked in the top 50 by KenPom.

It continues a distrubing trend for the Badgers, who have looked like nearly unstoppable at home and fairly meek away from it.

UW has won all six of its home games by an average of 24.2 points. In three neutral site games and Wednesday's first road game, the Badgers have looked lost and confused.

Here are my takeaways.

Wisconsin identity-less on defense

The nine days between games are doing to be interesting, especially if rewatching the game film goes as poorly as head coach Greg Gard thinks it's going to go. Lineup changes? Benching starters? All of it's on the table after the Badgers have failed to latch on to Wisconsin's fundamental defensive principles.

"We don't have a defensive identity," Gard said. "Haven't had one all year, so we'll search to find one, and I'll find guys who want to play defense."

Everyone gets all 'rah-rah' about our offense but it's the other end of the floor that has caused us the trouble for the most part.

There isn't one area where Nebraska didn't beat up the Badgers in. Point in the paint? Nebraska was plus-20. Shooting? Nebraska outshot Wisconsin overall (54.1 to 34.3), on twos (71.0 to 46.9), threes (11-30 to 7-32) and free throws (13-15 to 9-11). Rebounds? Nebraska was plus-6. UW had three more offensive rebounds but the Huskers had three more second-chance points.

There's plenty more, but you get the idea.

Senior forward, and potentially first-team all-conference player, Rienk Mast quarterbacks the Huskers and makes them tick. He had a team-high 18 points, but his ability to make the right play lead to forwards Braden Frager (15) and Berke Buyuktuncel (12) and guard Sam Hoiberg (12) to pick a part UW.

UW spent more time guarding individually instead of collectively, causing weak side defenders to not slide over, defenders slow to rotate and stop the ball, or the Badgers failing to cover the backside slasher to the rim. The Huskers weren't credited with a fast-break point, but Gard will challenge that considering he pointed out several times how the Badgers didn't cover Sandfort in transition and how his early perimeter shots got the crowd and his teammates into the game.

Nebraska entered second in the Big Ten and 19th nationally with 11.1 3-pointers, but the duo of Mast and Berke Buyuktuncel combined for 31 points and 15 rebounds.

"When it started raining, it kept raining," Gard said. "When we choose to be bad, we're really bad."

Wisconsin strangely abandons low-post attack

Nick Boyd attacked the rim, going right at forward Jamarques Lawrence, and drawing a foul on the first possession of the game. Over the next seven possessions, the Badgers touched the post, moved the ball, attacked the rim, and scored six points in the paint.

Unbeknownst to Gard, the Badgers went completely away from that. Following the media timeout, UW shot perimeter shot after perimeter shot. UW went nine minutes between shots in the low post, attempted 13 consecutive three-point shots and seeing only two go in. UW only had three offensive rebounds during that 17-possession stretch that yielded no second-chance points.

"We played into their hands," Gard said. "We did them a lot of favors from an offensive standpoint from how we executed."

UW had four assists on its first seven possessions and four on its final 26 of the half. Guards and forwards didn't find open shooters, didn't consistently passed out of the paint or finish at the rim. As a result, UW went from a 5-for-7 start to a 5-for-23 finish.

"We went away from (the post)," he said. "We took shots we didn't need to take. We went away from what was serving us really well."

Wisconsin's starting frontcourt didn't compare to Nebraska, as Nolan Winter and Aleksas Bieliasukas combined for 18 points, 10 rebounds, and seven fouls. Austin Rapp wasn't much better off the bench, with seven points on 3-for-10 shooting.

The Huskers also blocks six shots, including a Nick Boyd three pointer that stood out to Gard.

"If you are getting shot blocks, that's a bad decision," Gard said. "Shouldn't have shot the ball, so you should either pump fake and draw a foul or that means you've drawn a lot of traffic and one of your teammates is probably open. That's the decisions."

Blackwell bogged down

John Blackwell finally hit a roadblock.

Third in the Big Ten in scoring at 21.0 ppg, having reeled off six straight games in double figures and three straight of scoring at least 25 points. Nebraska made his life miserable.

The reigning Big Ten player of the week hit his first shot - a three-pointer - at 18:33 of the first half and never hit another one, ending the game with 10 consecutive misses.

What was also glaring is nobody stepped up for him on an off night. Wisconsin entered the night getting only 16.33 points from its bench, ranking them 337th out of 361 teams. The number will decrease with UW getting only nine points from its reserves.

Outside Rapp, freshman Will Garlock went 1-for-1 for two points while Jack Janicki had no points, two rebounds, and two fouls in 18 minutes, Braeden Carrington had two fouls and two turnovers in six minutes, and Hayden Jones and Jack Robison played in the final five minutes.

Jones actually did some defensive things defensively, about the only positive thing Gard said about any player in his postgame press conference.

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Benjamin Worgull
BENJAMIN WORGULL

Benjamin Worgull has covered Wisconsin men's basketball since 2004, having previously written for Rivals, USA Today, 247sports, Fox Sports, the Associated Press, the Janesville Gazette, and the Wisconsin State Journal.

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