Madison Reporter

Wisconsin Badgers fans are still trying to make sense of the team's recent second-round Midwest region upset loss to the Iowa State Cyclones in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

The third-seeded Badgers fell to the Cyclones, 59-54, earlier this month, marking the second straight season the team has suffered an early postseason exit.  

The latest loss left Wisconsin fans wondering when they might see their real team come March and tournament time.

"Badgers didn't play usual D," fan Paul Yochum tweeted. "Gave up 10 offensive rebounds, had no consistent offense and 17 turnovers."

"A frustrating way to end the year," Mike Kerry, another Badgers fan, tweeted. "Nothing seemed to work. But when the season started in October to have the Badgers in this position I would have been happy. Something about Milwaukee hosting Badger NCAA games is never easy."

Sophomore guard Johnny Davis led the way for Wisconsin with 17 points and nine rebounds, a report on the university's website said. But in the end, the same shortcoming that dogged the Badgers all year long again proved to be their undoing.

After struggling with three-point shooting all season, the Badgers hit a new low against the Cyclones, connecting on just two of 22 attempts (9.1%) from behind the arc, on the way to shooting just 29.8% from the floor for the game.

"I thought we had some good looks too," UW coach Greg Gard said in a Madison.com report. "I know we're 2 of 22, but I would say for the most part until right at the end, most of those were pretty decent looks that you've got to take, especially with how they're playing with packing things in and trapping the post. Those are things you've got to counter by knocking down some shots."

In the end, Gard joined others in expressing his disappointment.

"The loss, yeah, that stings and we didn't play well enough, shoot well enough, take care of the ball, but it goes beyond that," he told Madison.com. "The finality of that last time and not being able to go to practice tomorrow, next week, those types of things. It's going to end at some point in time; you just try to hope that you can keep stringing it out for another day."