The Wisconsin Badgers lost to the Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday in a 61-51 loss, dropping them to 12-8 on the season after originally starting 11-2.
One of their biggest issues? They couldn’t effectively stop guard/forward Matthew Mayer, who scored 26 points on 9/19 shooting, while being matched up against freshman Connor Essegian several times when the starters were in.
Outside of Mayer, the Illini shot just 40% from the field and 1/9 from deep, signifying how important he was to their offensive attack, which raised questions as to why the Badgers didn’t make an adjustment defensively with Essegian.