The fifth-seeded Wisconsin Badgers were shown the door quickly (and unexpectedly) in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Greg Gard's team became the first victim of a Cinderella in this year's edition of March Madness, falling prey to No. 12 seed High Point Panthers to the tune of an 83-82 score on Thursday at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.
After the loss, Gard had to face the media and talk about the shocking loss.
“Today sucks, today stinks, but they'll look back at how far they've come and what they've accomplished this year together and do that with a lot of pride with the bonds that they've formed over the past six months,” Gard told the media during the postgame press conference, via Pat Timlin of WISN 12 NEWS).
This is the third time in the Gard era that the Badgers have lost to a No. 12 seed. But even without that contest, it's clear that the loss to High Point stings for him and the rest of the Badgers and their supporters, who had high hopes that the team would go on a deep run.
With arguably the best backcourt in the nation featuring Nick Boyd and John Blackwell, the Badgers were viewed as a Final Four sleeper. Instead, they were put to sleep right in the very first round of the tournament.
Boyd scored 27 points for the Badgers on 10/20 shooting, while Blackwell added 22 points on 8/16 shooting.
High Point was powered by the incredible and clutch performance of Chase Johnston, who scored 14 points on the strength of four 3-pointers.
