Greg Gard reveals playcall on final possession of NCAA Tournament loss vs. BYU

Greg Gard broke down the final play call in Wisconsin’s 91-89 loss to BYU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The third-seeded Badgers were upset and everyone left stunned.

It came down to the final play, but John Tonje missed a jumper that would’ve tied the game to send it to overtime. But Gard doesn’t regret the decision.

It’s a play call, or at least a situation, that he’d do the same. Give the ball to Tonje with advancement on the line.

“No. Put the ball in my best player’s hands,” Gard said postgame. “And we were in a flat alignment with some bumping action with the bigs on the two other guards, and it was his decision on what — you trust your players. We’re not in this position without John Tonje. We don’t have that comeback. We don’t have the year and win 27 games without J.T.

“We made the decision, we were coming down, we had done it before. Put the ball in your best player’s hands and let him go make a play.”

Tonje had a banner of a game, putting up 37 points, three rebounds and two assists. Logically, you try to give him the ball for the tying bucket.

“I just tried to get downhill,” Tonje said postgame. “Just got kind of stopped around the block area. At that point I didn’t know what options I had, I just tried to go up with it. I’m not sure. I guess I’ll have to watch the film.”

Gard knows this one is going to hurt for Tonje and the rest of Wisconsin. They were oh-so-close to the next round.

“Yeah, obviously the flurry and the heart and complete grit that we showed to make a comeback like that and have a chance in the last possession is a credit to the young men I’ve got in the locker room and these three obviously to my right,” Gard said. I’ve been doing this a long time, almost 35 years, and as I told them, watching them grow together from the time we got together in June to now may have been the most fun, enjoyable year in my career.

“We were highly doubted early. We weren’t even supposed to be in this tournament. Supposed to be finishing 12th in the Big Ten maybe, and this group just bought in and committed to each other and were so much fun to be around every single day and so much fun to coach, and the joy that they played with and how they bonded together is really, really special.”