Wisconsin's season-long defensive shortcoming cost the Badgers a spot in the Round of 32

Offense scores points, but a connected defense is what wins championships.

The University of Wisconsin has scored 171 points in its last two NCAA Tournament games, and both times reporters walked into a sullen, disappointed locker room after the game.

In an era of high-octane offense, the Badgers have not brought their defense.

The Badgers' 2025-26 season came to a crashing halt on Thursday afternoon, as the fifth-seeded team in the West Region suffered an 83-82 defeat to No.12 High Point at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.

Plays and Stats That Defined Wisconsin's Stunning Loss to High Pointhttps://t.co/NiwiuycsQ1
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) March 19, 2026

Wisconsin (24-11) was a trendy dark horse pick for a deep tournament run because it could score with the best of them. The Badgers were averaging 83.0 points per game, the third-best average in school history, were 21-0 when scoring at least 80, set a program record with 14 games in the 90s, and their 125.4 offensive rating trailed only the UW team that played for a national title.

On Thursday night, Wisconsin is ranked No.12 in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, the highest of the five teams ranked in the top 20 that are out of the running for the national championship.
Why? All five also share in the metrics that they rank outside the top 50 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

Twenty-one of the last 24 teams ranked in the top 31 of the adjusted defensive efficiency metric. Those teams had an average rank of 16.33. Wisconsin currently ranks 56th.

Wisconsin led by eight points with 7:08 remaining and four with just over a minute left, but allowed the Panthers to score the final five points - one on a three-pointer by Chase Johnson, who fittingly passed former Davidson star Steph Curry in career three-pointers made by making multiple Curry-esk threes, and a second by Johnson when he got behind senior Andrew Rohde for a wide-open, no-dribble layup in transition.

It was Johnson's first two-point make of the season, and the game's final points with Wisconsin going scoreless with two turnovers and a Nick Boyd layup attempt in heavy traffic in the final four possessions.

It's another painful sting for Wisconsin, which extended its streak to eight straight tournament seasons without a Sweet 16 and four losses to double-digit seeds.

The latest to High Point (31-4) was the biggest upset in the NCAA Tournament in almost two full years, ending a 30-plus game win streak for teams who were at least eight-point favorites (UW closed as 10.5-point favorites). As a favorite of at least seven points in the NCAA Tournament, Wisconsin was 11-0 straight up over the last 60 years.

However, Wisconsin couldn't overcome the Big South championship hitting six more three-pointers on 17 more attempts than they did, which included the Panthers hitting off-balanced, banked, and shots from the half-court logo.

"It took that type of 15 threes for them to be able to counter what we were doing," head coach Greg Gard said. "It's a credit to them. You can take 'em, but they were able to knock 'em down."

While the lack of the three-point shot didn't help, the Badgers were done in by the inability to consistently defend the paint. High Point went 6-for-23 from three in the first half (nearly hitting its per-game average of 26), but still averaged 1.15 points per possession because of its ability to get to the rim.

High Point attempted 24 layups or dunks against the Badgers and scored 32 points in the paint against a UW frontcourt that was able to rotate in three 6-10-or-bigger forwards with the return of Nolan Winter. Worse yet, High Point was plus-3 on the glass and plus-seven on the offensive glass.

A good defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) is generally considered anything below 95, with elite teams typically holding opponents to 91.3 or lower, while average defensive teams rate around 100. Wisconsin was rated at 104.8 this season, tied with non-tournament teams Baylor, Portland State, South Dakota State, UMKC, and USC.

An individual player's defensive rating under 85 is considered exceptional. Against High Point, seven of the eight Badgers who played had a defensive rating between 121.2 and 141.6. Stop Percentage estimates the rate of defensive possessions where the opposing team did not score, and only Aleksas Bieliauskas (51.4) and John Blackwell (75.1) finished above 50 percent.

"That's the heartache that comes with this tournament," Gard said. "(High Point) plays exceptionally well, and you get sent home when you don't take care of things you need to take care of."

The season-long problems that the Badgers didn't fully fix defensively (cutting off driving lanes, protecting the rim, winning the rebounding battle) all played a part in ending a season that had the potential to be great, only to end up like many of the others over the last nine years.

Unfulfilled.