Wisconsin vs. Pittsburgh: Score and Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2016

The only thing that matters in the NCAA tournament is outscoring your opponent—even in those rare instances when it doesn't require a lot of points. 

The No. 7 Wisconsin Badgers survived a defensive battle against the No. 10 Pittsburgh Panthers in the East Region on Friday, winning 47-43. ESPN Stats & Info noted it was an historically poor showing for offenses of the Big Ten and ACC teams:

Despite the ugly performance from both sides, Raphielle Johnson of NBC Sports didn't seem too concerned for the advancing Badgers:

Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated took something of a different tone:

In all, Wisconsin managed to win a game even though it failed to score 50 points and shot 17-of-53 from the field and 4-of-19 from three-point range. Star Nigel Hayes did score 12 points, but he continued the theme of the evening by shooting 3-of-17 from the floor and 0-of-6 from long range. At least Ethan Happ scored 15 points and grabbed nine boards for the Badgers in a game-saving effort. 

Pittsburgh was even worse, and only Jamel Artis, who had 13 points, scored in double figures for the losing team. 

Offense was at a premium all game, including the opening minutes, and Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv commented on Wisconsin's play:

The Panthers took a 22-16 lead into the halftime locker rooms, and Rob Dauster of CollegeBasketballTalk had a poignant question:

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports praised the defense for the score:

Jim Polzin of the Wisconsin State Journal looked at the silver lining for the Badgers, which wasn't easy after they shot 6-of-24 from the field and 2-of-9 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes:

Wisconsin finally built some consistent momentum at the start of the second half and cut the deficit to 24-23 with just more than 16 minutes remaining. Polzin pointed to the foul troubles as a reason for concern for the Panthers:

Happ took advantage of the foul-plagued Pittsburgh defense to give Wisconsin a lead with a dunk:

Bucky's 5th Quarter of SB Nation praised the second-half strategy:

The Badgers' lead was short-lived, though, and Sheldon Jeter hit a jumper with less than 12 minutes left to give Pittsburgh a 34-29 advantage. Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times noticed one of Wisconsin's leaders was struggling to make an impact:

With Bronson Koenig held in check, Pittsburgh took a 36-35 lead into a media timeout with under six minutes left. Shannon Russell of the Cincinnati Enquirer said what many were thinking:

Greenberg had some advice for Hayes heading into the stretch run:

Palm raised an interesting point:

Wisconsin tied the game, and the two squads headed to the under-four-minute timeout tied at 39. ESPN's Bomani Jones weighed in on the defensive slugfest:

One player who actually wasn't struggling from the field was Wisconsin's Vitto Brown, and he gave the Badgers the 42-40 lead with less than three minutes left with his third three-pointer. From there, Happ converted in the lane on the Badgers' next possession to give his team a four-point lead. It truly felt like an unbeatable lead, as Palm noted:

That feeling didn't last long, as Artis drilled a three to cut the Badgers' lead to 44-43 with less than 41 seconds left. The Panthers then got the defensive stop they needed, but James Robinson missed a runner in the lane in the final seconds that would have given his team the lead and likely the win. 

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports said Robinson "ran into his own man and missed his 10th straight shot," which prompted this response from Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports:

Happ grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He hit the first and missed the second, but Pittsburgh knocked the ball out of bounds on the rebound. Hayes then hit two free throws, and the Badgers prevailed, 47-43.

What's Next?

Wisconsin will play the winner of the Xavier vs. Weber State showdown in the round of 32.

It is natural to assume it will be the No. 2-seeded Musketeers, but Michigan State already lost on Friday as a No. 2 seed. It wouldn't be March Madness without some upsets, and Xavier cannot afford to overlook No. 15 Weber State with the impending clash with the Badgers looming. 

Wisconsin is not exactly a typical underdog considering it battled in the Big Ten all season and has wins over Syracuse, Michigan State, Maryland, Iowa and Indiana on its resume. Xavier certainly won't intimidate it, even if the Musketeers were one of the best teams in the country throughout the season. 

If Wisconsin plays defense like it did on Friday, it could pull off the upset and advance to the Sweet 16.

Postgame Reaction

Wisconsin on BTN shared the postgame reaction from Wisconsin coach Greg Gard:

While the Badgers were pleased to move on, even they recognized it was an ugly game. Guard Zak Showalter said, per Polzin, “I guarantee Twitter is probably complaining about Wisconsin basketball. But, hey, we’re advancing, that’s all that matters.”

Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon discussed how his team tried to limit Happ, even though it didn’t work throughout the entire contest, per Polzin: “We wanted to limit his touches. We did a pretty good job, especially in the first half. But in the second half he seemed to get a lot more isolations in the post and hurt us around the basket with some tough finishes.”

Wisconsin made the small, unrecognized plays to earn the win, and Hayes played the role of veteran leader with his postgame takeaways, per Polzin:

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I tried to tell the guys, that the little things which we always preach, they’re even more magnified once you get to games like this. There are opportunities that will be presented to, as far as putting your face in there like Showy did or manning up and coming up with the rebound. The teams that win or lose are the ones that capitalize on that.

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Wisconsin will need to maintain that attitude for the rest of the tournament if it plans on surviving and advancing.

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Check out Bleacher Report's live updating bracket to track your picks along the road to the Final Four.

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