KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Wisconsin coach Greg Gard won't be satisfied with the result, a frustrating 70-65 loss to No. 24 Baylor on Monday night at the Sprint Center.
But he had to be encouraged by the grit his team showed, led by Ethan Happ and freshman Brad Davison, in the second half after trailing by as many as 17 points in the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Classic.
UW (2-2) suffered its second consecutive loss to a ranked team, this time thanks largely to an ugly start on both ends of the court.
The Badgers play at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against No. 23 UCLA (3-1), which suffered a 100-89 loss to Creighton in the first semifinal.
The Bruins were without freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, who were suspended indefinitely after being arrested for shoplifting during a trip to China.
Baylor, which is No. 24 and has six players from the team that reached the Sweet 16 last season, improved to 4-0.
UW faced myriad problems Monday night.
The biggest? Happ didn't get nearly enough support from his teammates.
Happ carried UW in the first half with 11 points, three assists and two rebounds. He hit 5 of 9 shots and the rest of the team was just 5 of 15.
Happ finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.
He made 11 of 19 shots. The rest of the team combined to make just 12 of 39 attempts.
Davison matched Happ's intensity and added 13 points, three rebounds and two assists before fouling out with 21.6 seconds left and UW trailing, 66-60.
Davison left with 13 minutes, 52 seconds left in the game after suffering what appeared to be a left-shoulder injury. After being checked out in the locker room, Davison returned with 11:36 left.
Happ scored six points and Davison five in a 16-3 run as UW pulled within 57-53 with 3:55 left.
After a Baylor timeout with 3:46 left, UW pulled within 57-55 when Davison fed Happ for a lay-in with 2:16 left.
Khalil Iverson fouled Manu Lecomte (24 points, 13 of 15 free-throw attempts) on a 3-point attempt with 1:59 left.
Lecomte, who entered the night 18 of 18 from the line, made all three for a 60-55 lead.
Iverson then missed a dunk on the other end and Lecomte was fouled again.
He made both shots to give Baylor a 62-55 edge.
Aleem Ford (10 points) answered with a 3-pointer to pull UW within 62-58 with 53.8 seconds left and the Badgers immediately called a timeout.
UW had to foul and the Bears, who hit 20 of 27 free-throw attempts, hit six in a row to push the lead to 68-62.
Brevin Pritzl added seven points for UW. Iverson had seven points, seven rebounds and five assists but hit just 2 of 10 shots. He missed several shots at the rim, a problem that plagued UW early.
Baylor shot 56 percent in the opening half to build a 12-point lead it never lost.
Senior forward Jo Lual-Acuil added 19 points for the Bears.
The Badgers entered the game shooting 49.4 percent but struggled to hit shots from the perimeter or in the lane in an ugly first.
By contrast, Baylor got open looks from 3-point range and high-percentage shots in the lane area and converted at a high rate.
The Bears hit 4 of 6 3-pointers and 8 of 12 shots overall to build a 22-10 lead with 10:33 left in the half.
UW to that point was 0 for 3 from 3-point range and 4 for 13 overall, with at least four misses in the lane.
UW made two runs to close to within seven but each time Baylor answered quickly.
After UW closed to within 22-15 on a 3-pointer by Davison and a basket inside by Happ, Baylor responded with an 8-2 run with four players scoring.
After UW closed to within 33-26, Iverson missed inside, Alex Illikainen missed the first of bonus free throws, Happ missed inside and the Bears forced turnovers by Happ and Iverson.
Baylor got a 3-pointer from Lual-Acuil with 1:03 left and a transition dunk from Tristan Clark with 35 seconds left for a 38-26 lead at the break.
