Clutch Play Late Gets Badgers Over The Top

Whatever Saturday’s border battle lacked in beauty was certainly made up for in drama as it was a missed free throw with 1.7 seconds left that ultimately proved to be the difference in a 45-44 Wisconsin victory.

Both teams entered play struggling on the offensive end of the floor, with both the Gophers (3-4 Big Ten, 15-5 Overall) and Badgers failing to reach the 50-point mark in midweek losses. So when the scoreboard read 43-43 as Wisconsin took possession with 39.1 seconds left, very few in the Kohl Center crowd were surprised.

More surprising perhaps was the Wisconsin response. After nailing a cold-blooded jumper with 1:03 left to tie the game, sophomore guard Traevon Jackson got a friendly roll on another short jumper, barely beating the shot clock to give UW a two-point lead with less than four seconds left.

“He shot-faked and we jumped out the way. Once again, a mistake…” Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith said. “That’s a recipe for getting a loss.”

A Minnesota timeout eventually gave the Gophers possession at half-court with 1.8 seconds left on the clock and after a lob pass intended for senior forward Trevor Mbakwe resulted in a foul call against UW forward Mike Bruesewitz, the game came down to a pair of free throws.

With Mbakwe injured on the play, Wisconsin chose Williams to shoot the free throws in his place. After making the first with ease, the Minneapolis native was too strong on the final attempt and a Badger rebound brought the slugfest to its conclusion.

Having already given up three points at the free throw line in the final 1.2 seconds of the first half, Wisconsin had to be dealing with flashbacks when the whistle blew. UW had regained a three-point lead on the strength of a 15-2 run and took possession out of bounds, handing the ball back to the Gophers on an errant inbound pass by freshman Sam Dekker and then watching fellow freshman George Marshall foul a three-point shooter.

“A freshman throws that pass and then a freshman fouls a three-point shooter…” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “How about that for a turn of events at the end of the half.”

Both teams were clearly on the brink heading into Saturday’s game. After a big win last week at Indiana, UW had dropped two straight to Iowa and Michigan State while Minnesota’s slide hit three games after a 55-48 loss at Northwestern on Wednesday.

“We’ve had three chances now to break it…” Smith said. “We just haven’t stepped up to the plate.”

Fortunately for Wisconsin, Jackson did step up to the place. Having come through a stretch of two-plus games shooting just 5-of-26 from the field, fans had to, understandably, cringe when Jackson lifted to shoot on each of his two jumpers down the stretch. Struggling or not, Jackson took each shot without any doubts, showing a confidence Wisconsin seemed to be sorely lacking. 

“People that have the mindset of being a competitor, there isn’t any other thought process…” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “When you are presented with the moment, there can’t be any doubts.”

Another player who had little doubt on the floor was Minnesota guard Andre Hollins. The Memphis, Tenn. native lit up the Badgers for 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Hollins went on a personal 7-0 second half run to grab a two-point lead out of what had been a five point Wisconsin advantage.

“He got a lot of his points off screens…” Jackson said of Hollins. “When a guy is doing that, you cant really do too much.”

Seniors Bruesewitz and Jared Berggren, Wisconsin’s two Minnesota-born starters, struggled all afternoon. Bruesewitz fouled out without a point for the first time since last year’s Big Ten Tournament while Berggren managed just two points on 1-of-7 shooting..

Senior Ryan Evans led a chorus of Badgers who stepped up in the absence of the two big men. Despite three turnovers and continuing to struggle at the free throw, Evans did everything he could to do the “little things” needed to come away with a victory, adding 3 assists, 8 rebounds, a block, and a steal to his 10 points for the afternoon. The three assists each came on the crucial inside-out looks UW had been struggling to find of late.

“I was pretty happy with my assists tonight…” Evans said. “That opens up so much more for us on the inside.”

Though the Badgers still shot just 37% from the field Saturday, they did enough off the ball to come away with a win, capped off with a crucial charge taken by junior Ben Brust in the game’s penultimate possession.

“That was very good footwork, very good awareness and he deserves a lot of credit for making a play…” Ryan said. “He made a play that helped us get that ballgame on the left hand side. That was a huge charge to draw.”

With road games at Ohio State and Illinois awaiting them in the next week, Wisconsin simply could not afford to lose a 2nd straight at the Kohl Center to remain in contention for a Big Ten title.

“This was a must-win game, “ Jackson said. “You have to take care of home court when you get a chance.”  

Badgers Not Doing The Little Things

Whether you are a Wisconsin fan or simply a fan of the game, Tuesday night’s 49-47 Badger loss to Michigan State was about as frustrating as it gets. The game slugged along with neither team hitting the 40% mark from the field and a combined six points being scored over the final 6:56.

By every account, Wisconsin should have come away with a victory. Despite shooting just 29.6% from the field, the Badgers had every opportunity to scratch out a win until missing their final five free throws in the closing minutes. Yes, UW scored just four points in the final 7:37 of the game, three on a miracle three-point shot by none other than forward Ryan Evans, and still had a chance to send the game to overtime with two free throws in the final seconds.

“Its cost us the game before and obviously it cost us the game tonight,” senior forward Mike Bruesewitz said of the free throw shooting. “We’ve got to get in the gym and start knocking them done, plain and simple. It can’t be an excuse anymore.”

Tuesday night was textbook Wisconsin basketball and the Badgers still couldn’t come away with the win.

That is why Tuesday night’s loss to Big Ten-leading Michigan State is even more worrisome than Saturday’s “upset” loss in Iowa City. Iowa has always been a difficult matchup for the Badgers and the Hawkeyes were able to dictate the pace throughout a blistering first half run that gave them an insurmountable 20-point cushion before UW could even blink.

On the other hand, the Spartans are a team Wisconsin can handle. Having successfully neutralized Michigan State’s strong front court duo of Adreian Payne and Derrick Nix (4 points, 8 rebounds combined), UW put the game on the shoulders of the sometimes-inconsistent MSU guards. Though Keith Appling and Branden Dawson each crept close to the 20-point mark, even the 37 points that duo was able to notch only left the Spartans with 49 points on the night.

Wisconsin was 78-2 under Bo Ryan when holding opponents under 50 points, so you had to like the Badgers’ chances given that effort on the defensive end. But Michigan State also had those statistics in front of them and paid no attention, instead choosing to accept they were going to be in for a rough game and to embrace it, something many teams struggle with when playing Bo Ryan’s Badgers.

“I think some teams make a mistake by trying to make Wisconsin turn up the speed of things,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “They don’t turn it over, I don’t care who they are playing. So we said we need to make sure we play a little like them in that respect.”

Though UW has shorn up its defense to this point in the season, this remains a formula that will get the Badgers beat in conference play. No longer blessed with a talented point guard the likes of Jordan Taylor to create penetration, Wisconsin is going to be largely at the whim of its sometimes inconsistent outside shooting. That is a given and no matter what Ryan and his staff try to do, they will have a tough time scoring when the shots aren’t falling.

But more importantly, Wisconsin has to do the little things well. Michigan State beat them in this respect Tuesday night, something very few teams have been able to do during Bo Ryan’s decade at the helm of the UW program.

The Spartans did turn the ball over ten times, but UW turned it over nine times themselves, with each team capitalizing on those turnovers to the tune of nine points. Wisconsin needs to have an advantage in that regard in order to win. MSU dominated in the paint, outscoring Wisconsin 20-10 despite the poor effort from their vaunted front line.

But above all, Michigan State shot 75% from the line, making 9 of 12 chances at the charity stripe. Wisconsin was just 7-for-18 at the line, including a dismal 5-for-13 effort in the 2^nd half.

These are the little things that used to put UW teams over the top, allowing Wisconsin to compete at the highest level against teams with a distinct talent advantage. Say what you want about the guard play and the loss of leaders like Taylor and injured guard Josh Gasser, these little errors are really what have put the Badgers in such a precarious situation.

But in the absence of Taylor, perhaps Wisconsin needs a change in mentality. The back court resources available to UW do not include anyone with the experience of a player like Taylor but perhaps include one player with even more pure talent and certainly more athleticism.

Redshirt freshman George Marshall has had an up-and-down season after being named the starting point guard in Gasser’s absence. Thanks to some early struggles, not surprising for a freshman, Marshall was replaced in the starting lineup by sophomore Traevon Jackson after just six games.

Since the change was made, Marshall has seen his minutes drop dramatically and his “leash” shortened infinitely, to the point where even a single off-the-mark pass can mean an immediate and often prolonged benching. On the other hand, Jackson has been given the reigns and has been provided with a far more consistent opportunity to play through his mistakes. During the Badgers’ two-game slide, Jackson is just 3-for-19 from the field with four assists and three turnovers (I would add at least two more according to my scoring).

Yet despite his struggles Jackson has continued to stay on the court. Against Iowa he fouled out in 31 minutes of play and against MSU he was pulled with four fouls in 28 minutes. By contrast, Marshall, who scored a game-high 20 points in the 2^nd half against Iowa, has tallied just 32 minutes in the two games combined.

Both Jackson and Marshall are going to have to contribute in order for Wisconsin to make its 15^th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. In the process, both Jackson and Marshall are going to have their ups and downs, a product simply of their inexperience at the college level.

But in the end, Marshall’s athleticism and pure talent as a guard and simply as a basketball player make him the man who will be of the most help for UW long-term. Even now, Marshall has the ability to take over a game, evidenced by his performance in Iowa City, that Jackson simply doesn’t have.

For Wisconsin to get back to the top of the Big Ten ranks, Marshall is going to have to be leading the charge. Doing the little things will only get the Badgers so far, likely back to the NCAA Tournament. But if this program is to take the next step, it has to prove it can utilize talents like Marshall. He is going to make mistakes in the process but if he can make two plays for every one of those mistakes, a ratio he is more than capable of sustaining, Wisconsin will be better off both in the short-term and even more so going forward into next season and beyond.

Badgers Ready For Another First Place Battle

Its Tuesday and once again Wisconsin men's basketball finds itself in a battle for the conference lead, this time playing host to No. 13 Michigan State (5-1 Big Ten, 16-3 Overall). Although the Badgers are coming off a disappointing loss Saturday night at Iowa, last Tuesday's win in Bloomington keeps UW right in the thick of a tightening Big Ten race at the start of this two-game home stand.

Winners of five straight and the Big Ten's hottest team, the Spartans come to Madison having finally cracked the code and winning at the Kohl Center last year in a game best remembered for its final moments when a three-point basket by Wisconsin's Ryan Evans was disallowed on review. That ruling helped MSU avoid a second overtime and gave them their first victory in Madison since 2001.

Michigan State has been about as quiet as a perennial contender can be in its rise to the top of the conference standings. After losing at Minnesota in their Big Ten opener, the Spartans have turned to the front court duo of senior Derrick Nix and junior Adreian Payne to lead them in five straight victories including a 59-56 win over then-No. 11 Ohio State this Saturday. Nix and Payne are each averaging 9.4 points per game while adding a combined 14 rebounds per game in the process. The UW front court is still without sophomore forward Frank Kaminsky and will need to stay out of foul trouble in order to maintain the manpower necessary to neutralize the Spartan attack.

Just as important is UW's ability to take care of the ball. After holding an aggressive Indiana defense to just 7 points off turnovers last Tuesday, the Badgers turned the ball over 12 times against Iowa, allowing the Hawkeyes to capitalize to the tune of 12 points off turnovers. Michigan State enters play forcing 13 turnovers per game and has averaged a tick over 15 points per game off turnovers in conference play. The Spartans will no doubt look to exposure the Badgers' inexperienced back court in an attempt to speed up the game and take UW out of its element.

The formula for Wisconsin is clear: take care of the ball, maintain defensive integrity, and make shots early to get the crowd involved. If the Badgers are able to do that, as they were last week in Bloomington, there is a good chance the Big Ten could have a new leader by the end of the night.

Badgers Have Plenty of Holes And Yet Plenty of Promise

Tonight I write not as a journalist but simply as a Wisconsin fan, a Wisconsin fan still unable to comprehend what exactly the Badgers have for a 2012-2013 team. After knocking off No. 2 Indiana on Tuesday, it seemed as if the sky was the limit. UW was 4-0 in Big Ten play and in the midst of a 7-game winning streak with Iowa the final opponent on a three-game “road trip”. The Badgers were alone on top of the conference standings and poised to move into the rankings and potentially into the top 15 or 20.

Then the game started in Iowa City.

From the opening tip, well I guess more like from the opening defensive possession, the Badgers lacked energy. It would have been one thing to see UW shoot 22% from the field during the first 20 minutes (which they did), but it is an entirely different and far less excusable issue when that poor shooting is accompanied but a lack of hustle and defensive intensity. Ultimately that lethal cocktail of awful put the Badgers in a 30-10 hole that proved simply too deep even for George Marshall to climb out of.

Despite fighting an illness I thought Bo Ryan and his staff coached a Brad Stevens-esque game in Bloomington. The game plan for the Badgers was flawless and the in-game adjustments made, especially with regard to keeping Cody Zeller at bay, were off the charts good. But when it came time to face Iowa Saturday night, the coaching staff did not seem nearing as well prepared.

First and foremost, Ryan allowed the deficit to reach 30-10 without calling a timeout. Now I recognize that Coach Ryan’s style is to let his players, specifically his seniors, work themselves out of funks, Iowa was running them out of the gym before they even realized they were inside. There was zero rhythm offensively, the ball control was shaky at best, and the defense lacked any ounce of integrity when it came to rotations and to stopping penetration. A timeout was just begging to be called and unfortunately it was simply too late by the time Ryan finally pulled the trigger.

Second, and I hate to beat a dead horse here; George Marshall needs to be on the floor, especially when UW begins to struggle. Marshall is going to make mistakes, after all he is a freshman and freshman have a tendency to do that. But for every mistake Marshall makes he makes two plays. He is by far the most dynamic player UW has in the back court and except for flashes from Brust and Jackson, is the only guard capable of creating penetration any time he touches the ball.

After the win at Indiana, Jackson was getting plenty of praise. Don’t get me wrong he was worthy of that praise for sure. Though he didn’t exactly light up the box score like many came away believing (3-for-9 from the field, 2 assists, 2 TO), Jackson hit clutch free throws and was stone cold on a big jump shot late when the Badgers were looking to put the game away. This was the 2^nd straight solid performance for the once-maligned sophomore and seemed to mark the beginning of the end of UW’s backcourt inconsistency.

Saturday Jackson took regression to a whole new level. Against an energized Iowa defense the Westerville, OH native fouled out with just 3 points on 1-for-10 shooting, adding just 1 assist and 2 rebounds. Meanwhile Marshall, his counterpart in the backcourt, nearly brought Wisconsin back all the way from that early 20-point deficit. Getting consistent playing time in large part thanks to significant foul trouble up and down the UW roster, Marshall took advantage and played without fear for the first time all year. That allowed him to open up his game and knock down 20 second-half points on 7-of-10 shooting, adding an assist to the stat line as well. So let the Rob Wilson comparisons commence.

Yes, once again we are seeing one of Bo Ryan’s most glaring weaknesses on full display. Ryan is one of the best coaches in the country but he has an almost unavoidable tendency to lock in on his rotations early in the season, becoming unwilling to change things up when certain players fail to perform. Certainly Ryan will ride the hot hand, but it just seems that with some on the roster he does so reluctantly. Wilson was that guy last year and unfortunately it appears like Marshall has stepped right in and taken his place.

The problem isn’t that Marshall doesn’t get his chances; it is that his leash is DRAMATICALLY shorter than Jackson’s. Marshall is an aggressive player and is set up for failure each and every time he is forced to come into the game and remain mistake-free in order to avoid being sent right back to the bench. The disparity between Ryan’s leash on Marshall and his leash on Jackson is quite honestly holding the Badgers back at this point, stunting not only their development as individual players but also stunting the development of the team as a whole.

Having said that, this senior class is every bit as culpable as Ryan when it comes to the failure to develop any semblance of consistency in the 2012-2013 UW season. Tuesday night that senior class led the way in the upset of Indiana. Mike Brusewitz brought the energy from the beginning and both Evans and Berggren followed suit, making plays when UW needed them most. Although Bruesewitz brought that same energy again in Iowa City (fouled out with 7 points and 9 rebounds), Berggren was nowhere to be found the entire first half and Evans was largely non-existent the entire game. When Wisconsin needed its seniors to step up, they just flat out didn’t do it.

Thankfully I am sitting here ranting while UW sits atop the Big Ten standings at 4-1. That being said, the next month consists of nothing but NCAA Tournament-caliber opponents and UW’s good start to conference play means nothing if the Badgers are unable to keep it up. This team has talent, has fight, and has a coach who is better than anyone else on this planet at maximizing talent and getting a team to play to the best of its ability.

Losing to Iowa is getting old but in splitting two difficult conference road games this is not a terrible week. Tuesday is the first day of class and hopefully the first time Wisconsin fans will see in person what I saw this week in Bloomington. Having seen what this team is capable of and knowing how adept Bo Ryan is at getting the most out of his players, I see no reason why Wisconsin should not find itself in the thick of the Big Ten title race and comfortable when Selection Sunday comes around. 

Badgers Pull Off Shocker And Keep Hoosier Domination Alive

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Just a few weeks ago, Wisconsin men’s basketball was not even considered a team worthy of NCAA Tournament consideration. After Tuesday night’s shocking upset on the road against No. 2 Indiana (3-1 Big Ten, 15-2 Overall), the Badgers (4-0 Big Ten, 13-4 Overall) are once again in the conversation for a Big Ten title. In front of 17,472 Hoosier fans in shock at Assembly Hall, Wisconsin pulled off the impossible with a 64-59 win.

After two lackluster efforts against Penn State and Nebraska, the Badgers seem like a completely different team since a six-day break prior to last Saturday’s defeat of then-No. 12 Illinois. After crushing the Illini with a 23-point victory, the ever-present Badgers never let IU out of their sights, keeping the game within two possessions before a second-half run gave them a 10-point lead they would not relinquish.

Whatever concerns UW had heading into their first truly hostile environment about the play of guard Traevon Jackson went away early as the Westerville, Ohio-native had easily his best performance of a young career, finishing with 11 points, 3 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers. Freshman Sam Dekker also made a major impact, validating last week’s Big Ten freshman of the week honor with 10 points off the UW bench.

But regardless of what the numbers might say, senior forward Mike Bruesewitz was the clear leader of the Badger effort. In a game he said he had circled at the beginning of the year, Bruesewitz made the most of it with 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. More important were Bruesewitz’s intangibles, picking up several loose balls and keeping the Badgers mentally composed throughout.

“I was just trying to preach and tell the guys ‘stay loose, stay loose’ throughout the game,” Bruesewitz said. “Otherwise environments like this will swallow you up.”

After Wisconsin surged out to a 51-41 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining, the Hoosiers responded with a 10-1 run capped off by a three-pointer from IU freshman Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell with just under 5 minutes remaining that got the Hoosiers within 1 at 52-51.

“That was a huge shot for them because that could have been the turning point,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “Fortunately our guys had enough will.”

That will ultimately allowed UW to bounce back from that run with a 10-1 run of their own, effectively sealing the game with two Jackson free throws at the 40 second mark.

Free throws have been an issue all season with Wisconsin shooting just 61% as a team at the line entering play on Tuesday. Despite having yet to face a real test in the way of having to make pressure free throws to close out a game, UW looked as if it had been in the moment all year, making 6-of-8 at the line down the stretch to erase any hopes of an Indiana comeback.

“I think the misses were a fluke,” UW senior forward Jared Berggren said. “Now we are back to our old selves.”

With the Indiana becoming the highest ranked team Wisconsin has beaten on the road in school history, the Badgers have now beaten Indiana in 11 straight games dating all the way back to the tenure of former IU coach Kelvin Sampson. Just a few weeks after being squarely on the proverbial bubble, UW is now in the drivers seat for a conference title. With that as the focus, Wisconsin will have to keep their celebrations short-lived.

“We’ve got Iowa on Saturday and they knocked us off twice last year,” Brusewitz said. “We owe them something.”

Given little chance to compete in the Big Ten, the Badgers might be the only ones not surprised to see their name at the top of the standings.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys with a lot of heart,” Bruesewitz added. “We’ve got a guy with a big red afro and a guy with a flat top. What else do you need?”