Badgers bounced from the NCAA Tournament thanks to a plethora of turnovers

NEW YORK – One of the pillars of the Wisconsin men’s basketball program is valuing the basketball.

Avoid turnovers, particularly live-ball turnovers, work for good shots and set your defense.

The Badgers’ failure to follow that simple plan was the No. 1 factor in their 72-61 loss to James Madison in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at Barclays Center.

Greg Gard’s team entered the South Regional averaging just 9.9 turnovers per game.

The Badgers turned the ball over 13 times in the first 20 minutes, which led to 20 points for James Madison, and finished with a season-high 19 turnovers. The Dukes turned those miscues into 27 points.

“That gave them confidence early to get up into our shorts and pressure us,” center Steven Crowl said of UW’s first-half turnovers. “Whether it was in the post or pressing us, it was all of us.”

UW’s five starters combined for 15 of the 19 turnovers.

Crowl and AJ Storr had four apiece, point guard Chucky Hepburn, who had a total of nine turnovers in the previous 10 games, had three; Tyler Wahl and Max Klesmit had two apiece.

“They’re a good defensive team,” Wahl said. “They force a lot of turnovers. We knew that. But any time you turn the ball over that many times, it is going to be tough to win.”

As well as the Badgers played in winning three of four games in the Big Ten Tournament, they played just as poorly in the first half Friday.

They turned the ball over five of their first seven possessions against James Madison. Combined with 1-for-5 shooting and the Dukes were able to build a 9-2 lead 4 minutes 44 seconds into the game.

The turnovers did not dissipate as the Badgers turned the ball over seven times on their first 12 possessions and the Dukes turned those miscues into 12 points and a 15-4 lead with 12:29 left in the half.

“They threw the first punch and in March Madness, you just can’t allow that to happen,” Hepburn said. “You’ve got to get the first punch in. We were able to respond to it but it was too late.”

UW had 16 games of double-digit turnovers before Friday but still averaged only 9.9 per game.

The miscues Friday ran the gamut – bad passes, dribbling into congestion and offensive fouls.

James Madison applied the pressure early to speed the Badgers up and they never regained control.

“That was a big confidence (boost) for them,” Klesmit said, “that maybe they can extend this and pressure them on the perimeter the whole game.

“We dug a big hole way too early.”

That was James Madison’s plan of attack. The Dukes came in averaging nine steals per game. They had 14 Friday.

“I’ll tell you exactly what I just told the team,” James Madison coach Mark Byington said. “I’m proud of them but not surprised. You know, these guys compete. They come to win. They play to win. And we kind of heard things about our schedule not being tough and who we are, and we knew we belong. We know we're good. We know we can compete.

“And they showed that today. You know, from start to finish, I thought we were playing the right way. The guys never flinched. They knew the whole time that we were going to pull this thing out, and that's the type of group we've got.”

Meanwhile, Gard and his players were left to ponder a slow start in their final game of the season and a quick exit from the NCAA field.

“That is something we’ve battled this season – turnovers and shot selection,” Gard said. “And they both came to fruition at once.”