Good effort isn’t good enough
PHILADELPHIA – Wisconsin coach Greg Gard and his players must be getting used to this theme:
The effort was commendable for 40 minutes.
The execution was commendable for about 36 minutes.
The result was another close defeat that could have been a victory with better, smarter play in the closing possessions.
“We knew coming in that we were going to have to be solid for all 40 minutes,” Gard said Wednesday night after the Badgers suffered a 59-55 loss to Temple at the Liacouras Center. “And we were pretty solid for 36 or 37. Obvi-
ously, we’ve got to be able to finish games. That is one thing this team is figuring out.
“We need to make better decisions, finish plays in the paint and do some things better defensively and we’ll get over the hump.”
Temple did all that down the stretch. Senior forward Obi Enechionyia had two critical blocks against Ethan Happ and junior guard Shizz Alston Jr. hit four free throws in the final 1 minute 9 seconds. Alston finished with a team-high 22 points to help Temple (5-2) wipe out a 55-52 deficit over the final 2:24.
The Badgers (4-6) went scoreless after Aleem Ford’s rebound basket with 3:34 remaining and missed an opportunity to climb back to the .500 mark. Instead, they hit the six-loss mark before the end of December for the second time in three seasons.
Happ hit 11 of 19 shots and led UW with 23 points, including 13 in the second half. He carried UW to a 55-52 lead with 3:34 left but missed his final three shots as UW went scoreless for the final 3:33.
Enechionyia (11 points, seven rebounds and four blocks), had two of his four blocks in the final 2:04.
Happ turned back to look at the official after both blocks and acknowledged afterward he thought he was fouled both times.
“I believe there was contact, on my shooting arm that I was shooting with, which usually comes down to a foul,” he said. “But I guess they were letting it play on that end.”
Khalil Iverson added nine points and freshmen Brad Davison and Ford added eight apiece for UW.
UW was struggling on offense and leading by one when Ford grabbed a loose ball and scored inside for a 55-52 lead with 3:34 left.
Enechionyia scored inside and then blocked a shot by Happ. That led to a foul and 1 of 2 free throws by Quinton Rose (nine points) to forge a tie with two minutes left.
UW called a timeout with 1:51 left. Encehionyia blocked Happ again and the Owls took over with 1:38 left.
Josh Brown (10 points) was fouled with 1:30 left and missed the front end of the bonus, but Enechionyia grabbed the rebound.
That led to a foul on Happ with 1:09 left. Alston Jr. hit both free throws to give the Owls a 57-55 lead.
Happ missed a contested left-handed hook in the lane but Alston Jr. airballed a three-pointer out of bounds with 27.6 seconds left.
UW had the ball with a chance to tie or win.
The Badgers went for the lead, but Kobe King missed a three-pointer with about 15 seconds left. King, who finished 0 of 3 from three-point range and 1 of 5 overall, got a clean look from the top of the key. His orders were to take the shot if open and if not, try to find Happ in the lane.
“I’m always confident — 0 for 10 or 10 for 10,” King said.
King, Nate Reuvers (1-5), D’Mitrik Trice (1-6) and Brevin Pritzl (0-2) combined to hit just 3 of 18 shots for UW.
Rose grabbed the rebound of King’s missed three-pointer with 12 seconds left but Davison poked the ball out of bounds with six seconds left.
The Owls inbounded the ball to Alston, who was fouled with 4.6 seconds left. Alston, who entered the game with 46 consecutive made free throws, hit both and finished 6 for 6.
Trice’s desperation heave from midcourt was short and UW had suffered another narrow defeat.
“I don’t know if it is immaturity of lack of experience but we can’t seem to close games like we want to in the last four minutes,” said Trice, who finished with three points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals in 30 minutes. “I think a lot of the guys are upset, (expletive), whatever you want to call it.”