After a 4-0 start to the year, the Badgers were quickly humbled by BYU on Friday night. Wisconsin lost 98-70, and simply had no answers on either end of the court as the Cougars went on to make the wrong kind of history for Greg Gard and the Badgers.
The lopsided loss tied the largest margin of defeat in the Greg Gard era. Wisconsin lost 78-50 against Purdue in 2018.
BYU hands Badgers biggest loss in seven years
Related: 5 impactful observations from the Wisconsin basketball loss to BYU
Wisconsin had been looking strong leading up to the game. They were averaging over 90 points per game, were top-five in the nation in free-throw percentage, and looked every bit the No. 23 team in the country. That all came to a screeching halt in Salt Lake City.
The Badgers shot just 38% from the floor, 24% from three, and 65% at the charity stripe. The shots just weren't falling on a night where they needed to score triple-digits to win. The defense obviously wasn't any better, as BYU shot nearly 50% from the floor and racked up 18 assists on their way to 98 points.
When you factor in a player's total shooting (FG, 3pt, FT), only one player had a better than 50% day. And Austin Rapp, made two total shots, both free throws, he went 0-7 from the field and 0-5 from three. Bad.
It was a wake-up call for Wisconsin, who had been working their way up to a top-20 team in the country. With the blowout loss, they'll now likely drop out of the rankings entirely. While some growing pains were expected with the high roster turnover, it was hard to imagine Wisconsin would lose by nearly 30. Still, it's only November, and Gard and company will have plenty of time to figure things out come March.