Greg Gard discusses unique scheduling issue after Big Ten postponement

Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said there was no good option to deal with the postponement of his team’s game against Northwestern. The Wildcats had a COVID-19 outbreak last week that caused its Saturday game against the Badgers — as well as a mid-week contest against Iowa — to be canceled.

The Wisconsin game was rescheduled for Monday, and Northwestern pulled out a 66-63 victory.

After the game, Gard discussed the postponement, rescheduling and how it all came together.

“There was no good option to make this happen,” Gard said. “This was the one that stunk the least of all them.”

Four Wisconsin players scored in double figures with Jordan Davis leading the way with 15 points.

All five of Gard’s starters played at least 33 minutes.

“I don’t know their whole situation so you have to be flexible and pivot,” Gard said of the postponement. “None of us want to be in this situation, specifically when you have to stack the games like this but it is what it is. It felt more important to play the game than to go to a no contest.”

While Gard said the situation was not ideal, he also didn’t want to make it an excuse for the loss. His team has played in situations with quick turnarounds like this before with the team now having to go play Tuesday at Maryland.

“We played three in a row in the Bahamas,” Gard said. “If you get in the postseason, you play every other day each weekend. These guys are basketball players. They’re used to this stuff. It’s unique. Obviously, we’re the only team having to do this. But I felt it was important for us to play games. We looked at every single spot in the calendar and the only way to make this happen was doing this.