Greg Gard hasn’t minced words about his team’s defense - and frankly, he doesn’t need to. The numbers speak loud and clear.
Wisconsin’s defense, once a staple of the program’s identity, is currently one of the weakest in the country in some of the most critical areas. For a coach who set top-10 defensive goals before the season tipped off, finding his team buried in the 200s in multiple categories is more than just a concern - it’s a red flag.
Let’s break it down.
Scoring Defense: Ranked 231st
The Badgers are giving up 75.5 points per game, which lands them at 231st nationally. That’s not just below expectations - it’s unrecognizable for a program that prides itself on gritty, grind-it-out basketball.
To date, they’ve only held one opponent under 60 points (Ball State), and they've already allowed two teams - BYU and Nebraska - to break the 90-point barrier. For context, no team scored 90 or more on Wisconsin at any point last season until the NCAA Tournament, when BYU dropped 91 on them.
So yes, this is a significant step back.
Field Goal Percentage Allowed: Ranked 224th
This is where things start to connect. When you’re giving up points at this rate, it’s usually because opponents are getting clean looks - and they are.
Wisconsin is allowing teams to shoot 44.4% from the field, which puts them at 224th in the nation. What’s more, their own offense isn’t doing much to offset the damage.
The Badgers are shooting just 44.3% themselves, ranking 244th. That’s a razor-thin margin, and when your defense isn’t getting stops, that kind of shooting efficiency just isn’t going to cut it.
3-Point Percentage Allowed: Ranked 289th
This is the most glaring issue - and the one that’s hurting them the most. Opponents are hitting 35.3% of their shots from beyond the arc against Wisconsin, ranking the Badgers a staggering 289th out of 365 teams.
That’s dangerously close to the bottom of the barrel. Teams are lighting them up from deep, and right now, it’s a blueprint for how to beat them.
What’s interesting is that the eye test tells one story - soft interior play, big men getting pushed around - but the metrics suggest it’s the perimeter defense that’s really bleeding. In truth, it’s both. The Badgers aren’t locking down inside or outside, and that’s a combination that leads to exactly what we’re seeing: a defense that can’t get stops when it matters.
Greg Gard is right to be frustrated. This isn’t just a rough patch - it’s a systemic issue that’s showing up in every key defensive metric.
If Wisconsin wants to turn this season around, it won’t start with scoring more. It starts with getting back to what made them tough to beat in the first place: defense.
Right now, they’re not even close.