Exploring Wisconsin's early offensive lulls and highlighting how Greg Gard can fix it

The Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team is off to a 2-0 start, which, at face value, is exactly where you would want to be. Although it is nowhere near the worst possible scenario, there is no doubt that the Badgers likely wish they'd had a smoother start to the 2026-27 campaign.

The first two games on Wisconsin's schedule, against Denver and Delaware, were supposed to be two of its easiest matchups of the year. Two games to run up the score, get the guys rolling and build some confidence for when the schedule actually began to ramp up.

However, that hasn't gone to plan thus far, as both the Pioneers and the Fighting Blue Hens were able to keep things within single digits, exposing a litany of problems in Madison. Of course, the Badgers still being able to pull out the victories ensures some confidence that these weren't full-blown disasters, but it doesn't exactly create the safest feeling for what's ahead.

Through both games, Wisconsin's defense was able to hold up relatively strong. Outside of some runs in the Denver game fueled by a very good player in Carson Johnson and some awkward stretches in the Delaware game, the Badgers' defense has been able to keep things low-scoring.

Victory Onuetu is a large reason for that, holding things down on the interior and doing his best to deter drives, along with Nolan Winter, Eian Elmer, Owen Foxwell and Jack Janicki playing their part in guarding their yard.

Early offensive lulls

That said, the biggest issue in Madison is something that Wisconsin fans are far from accustomed to in recent years: generating consistent offense, particularly while working out of structure.

For the past two seasons, the Badgers have been able to turn to a John Tonje, Nick Boyd or John Blackwell to get them a bucket when the going gets tough. But through two games this year, none of that has been working.

Wisconsin, as a team, has logged just six isolation possessions to this point, scoring on just one and turning the ball over in the other two. On top of that, the Badgers rank in just the 36th percentile in spot-up efficiency, a vast drop from last year, when they were in the 96th percentile.

The only real area where Wisconsin has thrived is in the pick-and-roll, grading out in the 82nd percentile, but even that comes with the caveat of volatility. For one, Foxwell is the one initiating it all, and with him off the floor, Wisconsin is shooting nearly 6% worse from the field in pick-and-roll scenarios.

On top of that, an expected drop can come from even Foxwell's reps, as his left-hand-dominant approach can surely be attacked schematically, while the bigger athletes that the Big Ten provides could potentially negate some of the easy looks that the bigs have been getting.

Is there reason for optimism?

It is worth noting that nearly each of the Wisconsin bigs has had some unexpected struggles that can be expected to be worked out, as Winter and Rapp are still figuring out how to assert themselves in the new system, while Onuetu continues to grow into a heavier usage role, doing a better job of being on the same page with Foxwell.

Nonetheless, it's a scary trend and one worth tracking moving forward, as the schedule for Wisconsin only continues to look more daunting.

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