CHICAGO — Wisconsin nearly recovered from a disastrous first half but it was just too much to overcome as the Badgers fell 65-57 to Ohio State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday night.

Wisconsin Player of the Game: Tyler Wahl

A quiet first half turned into a very loud second half for the senior. He scored 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds, handed out three assists and had a couple of steals as he played the entire 20 minutes. Wahl took advantage of a good matchup down low and put the Badgers on his back in helping get them back in the game. He also had six of Wisconsin’s 12 offensive rebounds after the break that led to 10 second-chance points. On defense, he frustrated Justice Sueing into a couple offensive fouls and his pressure helped force Ohio State into 16 turnovers on the night.

The good: The fight

Wisconsin faced a 27-point deficit just 4:29 into the second half after a 9-0 run from the Buckeyes. The game felt over. The season felt done. But the Badgers, led by Wahl and an increase in defensive intensity, stormed back to get within five with 2:13 left and had a wide-open 3-pointer from Max Klesmit that would have made it a one-possession game. It didn’t go and Wisconsin would eventually run out of time.

Whatever is remembered about this team — and there will be plenty of negative — the fight and resiliency should be among the positive. Though, to be fair, far too often that fight and resiliency was needed because of self-inflicted wounds…

The not so good: WTF was that first half

Wisconsin came into Wednesday’s game squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble. It didn’t look like it for the first 20-plus minutes, with the Buckeyes shooting 68.4% in the first half, including hitting nine shots in a row at one point. The Badgers, meanwhile, managed to hit just seven of its 23 shots (30.4%), went 0-for-7 from beyond the arc and turned it over six times.

It almost felt like the two teams were playing a different game, as Ohio State bullied Wisconsin on both ends with their aggressive style that seemed to stun the Badgers. The same issues that popped up consistently this year — an inability to finish around the rim, pro-longed scoring droughts and poor shooting — showed up at the worst time. The team had been able to count on its defense much of the year but saw it get ripped to shreds, playing a large part in what proved to be an insurmountable deficit.

What They Said:

“I thought they were way more aggressive than we were. They put us on our heels in a lot of situations. They got very comfortable with what they were doing offensively. By the time we’d rallied and played with more aggressiveness, more physicality in the second half, obviously we had ourselves dug into way too deep of a hole.”

— Wisconsin coach Greg Gard

“You could see it. There were a lot of guys, everyone just seemed a little tense.”

— guard Connor Essegian when asked if the team was tight going into the game

Stats of the Game:

61.1 — That was Wisconsin’s shooting percentage from the free throw line, which continued a season-long issue.

27.7 – That was the combined shooting effort from Steven Crowl and Chucky Hepburn, as they went 5-for-18 to finish with 14 points. Hepburn didn’t make his first show until there was 2:52 left in the game. The duo spent much of the second half on the bench watching, as Gard went with Kamari McGee, Carter Gilmore and Jordan Davis to help put some pressure on the Buckeyes.

14.3 — That was Connor Essegian’s shooting percentage from beyond the arc, as he went 1-for-7. After shooting in the mid 40s much of the year, the true freshman shot just 26.9% from deep over the final eight games of the season.

In Case You Missed It

— Wisconsin came into the game as the first team out on ESPN’s latest bracketology, likely needing a couple wins to make the NCAA Tournament. With the early exit, the Badgers are probably going to miss March Madness for just the second time since 1998.

I don’t know. I’m not a bracketologist. You can look around and find differing opinions,” Gard said when asked about their postseason future. “If we are, we’ll get ready to go and do that. And if we’re not, we’ve had a lot of opportunities to put ourselves in position (to be in).”

— Gard was noncommittal about potentially playing in the NIT if the team doesn’t make it into the NCAA Tournament, saying he hadn’t really even thought about the possibility. The Badgers haven’t played in that event since 1996.

— This was the first time Wisconsin was playing on the opening day of the conference tournament since 2000 and it ended up being the first time the program has ever failed to advance past the first round.

— Wahl has the opportunity to take advantage of the NCAA’s COVID waiver and return for a fifth year. He has said he’ll make a decision after the season, though he did get emotional after the game talking about his time in Madison and the people he has been around the last four years.

“The game itself, that was a tough one because it was definitely one that we wanted to win,” Wahl said. “From an overall standpoint, I can’t thank the university enough, coaches and my teammates enough for everything they’ve done.”

What’s next?

Perhaps the postseason, perhaps the offseason