Greg Gard critical of Wisconsin's first half performance following 78-56 blowout of Lehigh

The Wisconsin Badgers were expected to take care of business with the Lehigh Mountain Hawks on Thursday night and they did just that, throttling them 78-56 in blowout fashion. But things didn’t come easy at first and they didn’t take control of the game until the second half. Wisconsin actually trailed Lehigh 32-31 at halftime, but came out on a mission after the break. The Badgers couldn’t miss, shooting a scorching hot 66% from the field in the second half. Their hot shooting allowed them to take control of the game and they outscored Lehigh 47-24 in the second half to cruise to an easy win. Following the game, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard spoke with Fox College Hoops’ reporter Brian Butch.

Greg Gard: We played “too soft” in first half

Butch first asked Gard about the “interesting” first half for the Badgers. The Wisconsin head coach did not hold back in letting his team know he felt like they played too soft in the first half.

“Yeah, it was. You know well, Brian. You get to this time of year. Start finals tomorrow. I can tell, given yesterday, and the day before in practice, we were a little preoccupied I guess, with the academics. Which is good. But you know, defensively is where we turned the page a little better second half. That first half we were too, quite frankly, we were too soft. You know? We were more physical on the ball. We were more physical in the paint. And it showed in the second half,” Gard said.

The Badgers played excellent defense in the second half, but a big key was getting Steven Crowl more involved on the offensive end, after he struggled in the first half. “That was important because he struggled the first half. To say it mildly. Just to get him to finish and get him to the free throw line was good. Knocking down that three at the end of the shot clock was good. It’s a step for him every day trying to get better,” Gard said on the court following the game.

In the first half, Crowl was ice cold, connecting on only 1 of 6 attempts from the floor. He had two points at halftime. In the second half, the switch was flipped, and he drained all five of his shots from the floor, pouring in 13 points in 14 minutes. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists in the winning effort. The Badgers finished the game on a ridiculous shooting stretch–connecting on 12 of their last 14 shots from the field to coast to a comfortable win. They also drained 52% of their shots from beyond-the-arc and outrebounded Lehigh 34-20 on the glass. Four players finished in double figures in the victory for Wisconsin.