Time To Regroup

Wisconsin looked like damaged goods in its 60-51 loss to Ohio State, well, because the Badgers are damaged.

But more interesting than the end result, we got a second glimpse into the transformation of a team missing perhaps its most potent offensive weapon in Jon Leuer. Not only is Leuer the team's best inside scorer, but it is looking more like he was UW's only reliable inside presence of any kind.

Ohio State held Wisconsin to 40% shooting, including 9-of-26 from behind the arc. Wisconsin attempted only five free throws. The Badgers fell behind by 12 points after one half even though Evan Turner was non-existent due to foul trouble. [box score]

That means UW has shot 52 3-pointers (30.7%) in back-to-back games without Leuer. In the previous 16 games, Wisconsin had been shooting 35.6% on 3-pointers. More disconcerting was that I remember seeing a total of only one post move the entire game against the Buckeyes and it didn't come from any of the forwards. With Leuer possibly out until the Big Ten Tournament, the Badgers cannot continue to rely on the three-headed guard trio alone.

Luckily for Bo Ryan's club, they get two winnable games at the Kohl Center after playing four of the last five games on the road.

On Wednesday the Badgers host the Michigan Wolverines, who are coming off their best win of the season over Connecticut. It might be a good time to host Michigan, which is just as perimeter-oriented as Wisconsin appears to be at the moment. For comparison, Michigan has attempted 44 threes in its last two games.

Dylan from umhoops.com will be joining us for a preview Q&A tomorrow.