Tom Oates: Badgers’ setback against Illini proves changes needed for Wisconsin

“The effort gives me a lot of hope,” center Micah Potter said. “At the end of the year last year, we got really hot the last eight games. We’ve got more than eight games left in the year (if UW goes all the way). It’s one of those things. Obviously, making shots is a huge deal. I was not good today. I’ve got to be better. Give Meech (Trice) all the credit in the world for carrying us the last however many minutes. He was unbelievable. But I’ve got to be better. We’ve all got to be better against teams like that. Regardless of if they have Ayo or not, they’re still a good team. You’ve got to be able to make shots.”

Yes, the Badgers’ late-game effort was commendable. But a failure to consistently make shots has nagged this team almost since the start of Big Ten play.

Part of it is the opposition in a Big Ten that some are calling one of the strongest conferences ever. Six of UW’s eight Big Ten losses have come against Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa and Illinois, which hold four of the top seven positions in the NCAA’s NET Rankings.

But UW beat several highly ranked teams last season with almost the same group of players. The Badgers’ prolonged shooting slump has prevented that from happening this season and now March is upon us. Or, more importantly, upon UW. Something has to change, and change soon.

“Playing for one another is one thing, but (it’s) also playing with confidence within yourselves,” Trice said. “I think our guys are shooting it but maybe not with the most confidence that they had maybe in the beginning of the year or how I see them shooting in practice. I think they’ve got to translate that to the game, including myself at times. I think it’s just a confidence thing that we’ve got to continue to work on.”