MILWAUKEE — The last-second shot came up short, sending Wisconsin home from the NCAA tournament. It was Jordan Taylor’s last play for the Badgers, but it won’t be the way he’ll be remembered.
Taylor missed a long contested jumper at the end of an awkward final possession, Josh Gasser’s putback attempt was off target and Wisconsin lost a one-point game to Syracuse on Thursday night. With that, the Badgers’ season came to an abrupt end — as did Taylor’s distinguished career at Wisconsin.
“He’s a young man that we believed in as a teenager, a young pup,” Badgers coach Bo Ryan said. “He just kept growing and growing mentally and physically into the position and single-handedly brought that front line along during the year.”
Taylor’s steady point guard play helped the Badgers recover from a 1-3 start to Big Ten play this season, when another NCAA tournament appearance was anything but a sure thing.
Wisconsin rallied to not only make the tournament, but also advance to the regional semifinals for the second year in a row and come close to knocking off a No. 1 seed.
Ryan said Taylor’s leadership made a difference on a relatively young team.
“Again, I think it helps if you have played to understand how inexperienced we were with that front line and the things that those guys ended up being able to do to put us at the record that we have and to put us into this position,” Ryan said. “Jordan deserves a lot of credit for that, so he’ll be sorely missed.”
Amid the disappointment, Taylor credited Syracuse’s defense.
“They used the length that they have and kind of forced us into a tough shot, and it obviously didn’t go down,” Taylor said. “So it was tough. Hats off to them. They’ve got a good team, a really good team, and we knew that coming in, but it was a good game.”
What did he say to Taylor after the game?
“Nothing earth-shattering,” Ryan said. “He’s been around me a long time. We’ve been around each other. You’ve got to be a player and you’ve got to be a coach to understand that kind of relationship. I can’t explain it to you. That’s what we do.”
Wisconsin was the nation’s best defensive team this season, allowing 53.2 points per game — although the Badgers’ ultra-deliberate offensive style certainly plays a role in their ability to hold opponents to low scores.
Offensively, the Badgers were remarkably reliant on their 3-point shooting; when those long shots were going down, they could beat just about anybody. When they weren’t, the Badgers were subject to surprising losses — most notably a season sweep by Iowa.
Wisconsin hit 14 3-pointers against Syracuse, keeping them in the game, but Ryan said afterward that the Badgers weren’t necessarily looking to shoot a bunch of long-range shots.
“We got an awfully lot of good looks and we took them,” Ryan said. “We don’t put a number on things, but we know some teams that played well against them, stretched them, made some threes. We could have finished on a couple more buckets inside, but we took what they gave us, and that’s how we survive. That’s how our teams do what they do. They’re pretty resilient.”
Ryan said the Badgers played well enough to win.
“I’m just really proud of my guys,” Ryan said. “We can play with anybody in the country, and they proved that again. And I’m just so proud of them, especially all the movement that we made in our progress in different areas defensively and offensively during the season. Any time a team gets better as the year goes on, I think that’s a good sign. And Jordan Taylor was a big reason for that; Rob Wilson, as a senior, also as leaders. These guys did a great job. We played well enough to have this one on our side, it just didn’t work out that way.”
Ncaa basketball 2012 