By Hawk Fanatic

Defense rarely has been considered a strength for the Iowa men’s basketball team under Fran McCaffery, and Friday’s 116-85 loss at Wisconsin certainly showed why in humiliating fashion.

The Badgers made a program record 21 shots from 3-point range, shot 64.5 percent from the field and had 26 assists.

The 116 points were the most points scored in the Kohl Center and the second most in program history.

“We shared the ball, we moved it and I thought we got better defensively in the back half of the first half and it allowed us to get some rhythm offensively, and obviously, we’ve got some talented players that can put the ball in the basket,” Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said on the FS1 post-game interview.

The Badgers certainly do have players that can put the ball in the basket, but it helps if you’re wide open as they were on many of their baskets in Friday’s game.

Three-point shooting is also contagious as Iowa color analyst Bobby Hansen said on the Learfield post-game radio show.

A defense has to tighten up when the shots start falling from three as Hansen pointed out, but Iowa failed to do so.

Iowa has been ranked among the top scoring teams in the nation on a regular basis since Fran McCaffery was hired in 2010.

McCaffery gives his players the freedom to shoot and he likes to play at a fast pace.

The problem with that approach, however, is that it leads to more possessions on defense, and that’s where Iowa has struggled under McCaffery, with Friday’s loss one of the worst examples ever, maybe the worst.

The Badgers deserve credit for making 21 threes. But they were also wide open on many of them as Iowa just seemed a step slow on defense.

“Once we realized that they were coming in here and trying to outscore us and they didn’t really care much about the defensive end, we took advantage of that,” said Wisconsin guard Kamari McGee, who made four threes. “We didn’t know we were going to shoot this great tonight. But we trust our teammates, we trust the players, so we know we can score the ball in bunches.

“And we just knew they didn’t want to play defense, and all we had to do was play a little bit more defense and the game is ours.”

Fran McCaffery said on the Learfield post-game radio show that Iowa’s shot selection on offense contributed to the problems on defense, especially when the Badgers went on a 19-2 scoring run in the first half.

“Our shot selection wasn’t very good, nor was our defense, obviously,” Fran McCaffery said. “So, we’ve got to be better with our ball-screen action, with our transition defense. But most importantly, when we’re in transition defense, our shot selection has to be better.”

In addition to Iowa’ defensive shortcomings, Iowa senior forward Payton Sandfort also had a miserable performance on offense, scoring just two points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field.

“He puts a lot of pressure on himself,” Fran McCaffery said. “So I’ll stay positive with him. I always do. He’s had some off nights, certainly the Utah State game when he was injured for that one, but he tried to play through.

“He was fighting tonight. He was trying and he couldn’t get anything to fall. He had a couple clear looks and they didn’t go in and that really frustrated him. Teams area guarding him pretty closely and then when he gets a clean look, he wants to make it.”

Graduate guard Drew Thelwell did all he could on offense to try to keep Iowa in the game, scoring 25 points.

He also had four steals, but that was one of the few positive statistics on defense.

“He was spectacular at both ends,” Fran McCaffery said of Thelwell.

Iowa fell to 10-4 overall and 1-2 in conference play, while the Badgers improved to 1-2 in conference play.

Iowa trailed 54-43 at halftime, so obviously defense was an issue for Iowa in the first half.

Wisconsin made 9-of-13 shots from 3-point range in the first half and 20-of-33 shots overall.

Iowa also shot well from the field in the first half, making 19-of-32 field-goal attempts.

But the Badgers went on the previously mentioned 19-2 scoring run in the first half, turning a six-point deficit into a double-digit lead.

Junior guard Josh Dix and Thelwell led Iowa with 14 and 12 points, respectively, in the first half, and they combined to make 11 of 14 shots from the field.

But then Dix only scored two points in the second half.

Payton Sandfort only scored two points in the first half on 1-of-4 shooting from the field.

Iowa has shown that it can score points in a hurry, and has a history of making comebacks under Fran McCaffery, so there still was hope for a comeback heading into the second half.

But it just wasn’t meant to be as Iowa continued to struggle on defense.

Iowa scored 85 points, and yet, still lost by 31 points.

That helps to show just how bad Iowa’s performance was on defense.