March Madness? March Sadness for UW, which can't handle James Madison

NEW YORK – Wisconsin’s promising season, which led to a No. 5 seeding in the South Regional of the NCAA Tournament, ended with one of the team’s worst performances of the season.

James Madison forced the Badgers into mistake after mistake from the opening minute, scored 20 points off 13 turnovers in building a 13-point halftime lead and maintained control en route to a 72-61 victory Friday night at Barclays Center.

The Dukes finished with 27 points off a season-high 19 turnovers by the Badgers, who never got closer than seven points in the second half.

UW had just 10 points off 12 James Madison turnovers.

Greg Gard's team got off to an ugly start

Wisconsin entered the night averaging just 9.9 turnovers per game but turned the ball over on five of its first seven possessions against James Madison.

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Combine that with 1-for-5 shooting and it was easy to see why the Dukes raced to a 9-2 lead just 4:44 into the game.

UW couldn't settle down.

The Badgers turned the ball over seven times on their first 12 possessions and the Dukes turned those miscues into 12 points and a 15-4 lead with 12:29 left in the half.

Chucky Hepburn and Max Klesmit struggle to score

UW guards Chucky Hepburn and Max Klesmt entered the tournament averaging 9.4 and 8.5 points per game, respectively.

They combined for zero points in the opening half as Hepburn missed three shots and Klesmit missed two.

Klesmit hit 4 of 5 three-pointers in the first 6:44 of the second half to spark a UW rally but later missed a drive with UW down, 52-46, with 7:55 left.

In addition, AJ Storr (three turnovers), Hepburn (two) and Klesmit (two) combined for seven turnovers in the opening half.