That was when son Tony was a member of the Charlotte Hornets. All he had to do was watch.

The last two times he has visited Tobacco Road have been utter nightmares. He had to coach his Wisconsin Badgers.

The first came last year in Charlotte during the NCAA regionals. His team scored 12 points by halftime and finished with 32 in an embarrassing loss to Southwest Missouri State, the lowest point total in the NCAA Tournament since the shot clock was introduced in 1986.

The second came Tuesday night in the Big 10/ACCChallenge. His team scored 14 points in the first half and finished with a perplexing — at least to Bennett — 68-47 loss to Wake Forest.

“The stench was still here from last year,” Bennett said. “When my son played here for the Hornets, we loved coming to North Carolina. Now, I hate coming here.”

Wake Forest basically beat the Badgers at their own game — defense.

Wisconsin came in allowing opponents just 36 percent field goal accuracy. Wake shot 50 percent. Wisconsin has been a good inside club. Wake outrebounded the Badgers 40-24.

“Obviously, you can look at the stat sheet and and know that we did a really good job on the boards,” said Wake coach Dave Odom said. “One of the keys was that we controlled the backboards, I thought, very, very well.”

While both coaches talked defense, this game boiled down to the Badgers’ horrendous shooting in the first half that decided the game.

By halftime, Wisconsin trailed 32-14. It had shot 7-of-23 from the field.

“This has happened to us before, somewhat inexplicably,” Bennett said.

Wake started slowly also, getting just one point in the first four minutes.

“I wasn’t sure either team was going to get double figures for the night,” Odom said.

But when Josh Shoemaker made a steal, took a return pass from Robert O’Kelley and stuffed, the Deacons were up 20-10 and were never threatened.

Only one Badger, Mark Vershaw, a 6-8 junior center who leads Wisconsin in scoring, rebounding, assists, blocked shots and field goal percentage, was effective inside, going 6-of-9 for the game and scoring 14. But he received no help.

“I thought our big lineup lacked heart,” Bennett said. “Not only were they outplayed, they were outhustled. We were simply destroyed on the baseline. There were times I saw the ball loose and I never saw one of our guys even move to it.

“It boggles my mind.”

Wake’s big men — Darius Songaila, Rafael Vidaurreta, Niki Arinze and Shoemaker — all had at least six rebounds but pointed to the guard play as the key.

“The guards put pressure on the the ball and made it easier for the big guys to play defense,” said Songaila, who led all scorers with 16.

Wisconsin never got closer than 11 in the second half. The largest lead was 22 after a Craig Dawson three-pointer.

“Ididn’t know where to turn,” Bennett shrugged. “The guards were afraid to do anything and the big kids were just getting outplayed badly.”

O’Kelley managed just 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting but Odom said to forget the shooting stats. O’Kelley played great.

“Robert didn’t shoot the ball well tonight but he had one of his better games,” Odom said. “He had control of our team offensively and defensively better than I have seen him, maybe ever. I thought he had a great feel for the game.”

Odom pointed out that no one should be hurt by this made-for-TVgame.

“I think it’s good for the team that walks away with a win,” he said. “Idon’t think it’s necessarily bad for the team that walks away with a loss.”

Bennett didn’t quite see it that way.

“When you get a chance like this, you must understand this is a chance to lay it on the line,” he said. “I must have done a poor job communicating that.

“We laid an egg on national television.”