UW Rains on BYU and Takes Home Tourney Title

Badgers Rain On BYU Parade, Take Home Tourney Title Having won their first five games by an average of nearly 40 points, Saturday night’s Chicago Invitational Challenge final against BYU was the first real challenge the Badgers have faced thus far in the young season. Although the Badgers (6-0, 0-0) struggled at times against the Cougar zone, they eventually found their stroke from beyond the three-point arc, shooting their way to an 73-56 victory. “We had to learn a bit on the fly,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said after the game. “I thought our guys adjusted well…BYU is a heck of a team and I am sure they are going to do well in their league...I like the way our guys responded.” Sophomore guard Ben Brust took advantage of the shooting space made available by BYU’s matchup zone. The sharpshooting Mundelein, Illinois native overcame a slow start by nailing seven three-point shots to give him a team-high 21 points on the night. Brust led an 11-0 Badger run with three triples early on in the second half that took what had been a back-and-forth game and quickly put the Badgers in firm control. “His moxie when it comes to finding open angles is pretty good,” Ryan said. “And his teammates know it and they find him.” Still, forward Jared Berggren may have played an even bigger role in the UW victory. The redshirt junior finished the game with 13 points and 5 rebounds, but more importantly held BYU forward Brandon Davies in check. Though the highlight reels will be filled with UW’s three-point shooting, it was Wisconsin’s dominance inside that really proved to be the difference. Proving he can still do it all, senior guard Jordan Taylor had his best performance of the season, finishing with 18 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds. Between Taylor and Brust, the Badgers outscored BYU guards 39-6, playing a pivotal role in the outcome. Brust, Taylor, and Berggren rode their respective performances to spots on the all-tournament team, with Taylor picking up the trophy as the Tournament MVP. “They were a bit more extended then I thought they would be…” Taylor said. “But we got the win and that’s what is important.” Although the final score was lopsided, Saturday’s win was anything but easy. After the Badgers stormed out of the gates to a 22-10 lead, BYU (4-2, 0-0) came right back with an 18-4 run of their own. Brust’s first three eventually got UW into the locker room with a two-point lead, but after a few more minutes of back and forth play, that Brust-led run put the Badgers in control and sent the game quickly on its way to a lopsided conclusion. “Its fun to play with a guy like {Brust},” Taylor added. “But he’s not the only guy we’ve got who is like that.” Now having passed their first test with flying colors, the Badgers now must quickly prepare for arguably their most difficult matchup of the year. Wednesday night’s matchup against top-ranked North Carolina already had plenty of hype and with Wisconsin now destined for a top 10 position in the polls, that hype will only grow as tip off nears.

Badgers Take Down Bradley, Set for Showdown with BYU

Continuing to take care of their early season business, #11 Wisconsin (5-0, 0-0) got away with sloppy play at times en route to a 66-43 victory over Bradley Friday night in the semifinals of the Chicago Invitational Tournament. Junior forward Ryan Evans scored a career-high 15 points in the victory, joining guard Josh Gasser and Jordan Taylor for the team high. Evans also added 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks. Bradley (3-2) was paced by senior forward Taylor Brown, who led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-20 shooting, picking up 9 rebounds as well. Still, UW did not take care of the ball as well as Badger fans have become accustomed to. Wisconsin turned the ball over 10 times, their first game with double digits in that category. Taylor had an uncharacteristically shaky night with the ball, turning the ball over four times to double his season total in already the fifth game of the young season. But UW still won the turnover battle, forcing the Braves into 17 turnovers of their own. The Badgers also showed an ability to hang with Bradley athletically, matching the Braves step for step on the fast break and notching 18 points off those turnovers. Next on tap for UW is BYU, a fellow Sweet 16 team from last season that returns most of its core, the exception being National Player of the Year Jimmer Fredette. But the Cougars are benefitting from the return of forward Brandon Davies, whose controversial suspension last season really hurt BYU's title hopes. The Cougars come into Saturday off of a 76-55 win over Nevada and are by far the biggest test the Badgers have faced thus far. Saturday also marks the beginning of a five game stretch in which the Badgers will face four teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last season, with the BYU game followed by a date with #1 North Carolina, followed up finally with home games against Marquette and UNLV. Certainly the big wins have given Badger fans something to be excited about, but until UW gets through this stretch, its hard to tell what the season truly has in store.

Badgers Ready For Challenging Stretch Ahead

While there is one game remaining before the Wisconsin men’s basketball team hits the road for the first time, it is hard not to begin thinking about the games that lie beyond Tuesday night’s matchup with Missouri-Kansas City. Starting with Friday night’s Chicago Invitational Semi-Final against Bradley, the Badgers face a five-game stretch that could include four teams who competed in last year’s NCAA Tournament. But before Wisconsin sets its sights on the heart of the non-conference slate, they have one more piece of business to take care of in Madison as they face the Kangaroos of UMKC. More importantly, Tuesday night is the first opportunity for UW head coach Bo Ryan to pick up his 246th win at Wisconsin, tying Walter “Doc” Meanwell for second all-time in Badger history. “I really appreciate what Doc Meanwell meant to the game of basketball,” Ryan said. “Besides winning championships because people in coaching should be known for more than just how many banners they put up.” The ‘Roos head to Madison at 1-3, having never faced the Badgers. They do, however, have a history of facing stiff competition, having consistently played one of the more difficult non-conference schedules among the mid-majors and playing out of the extremely competitive Summit League. Bradley, playing out of the Missouri Valley conference, will likely head into Friday’s matchup at 4-0, having beaten North Dakota 78-69 on Saturday, with a final tune-up against Wofford set for Tuesday night. The Braves—a Sweet 16 team in 2006—have had a few tough seasons since, failing to reach the postseason for the second straight year in a 12-20 campaign last season. Beyond Bradley is where the heat gets turned up as the Badgers will face either a young and talented Nevada team, picked by many as a favorite to win the WAC, or a BYU team fresh off a Sweet 16 appearance last season. With a variety of different competitors slated for the next week, the motto for the Badgers has to be “just win baby”. Nothing but an unblemished record will serve as a solid foundation heading into arguably the most difficult test of the season, the Badgers’ ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchup against top-ranked North Carolina in Chapel Hill. For a team that has not yet played a game this season that remained competitive heading into the second half, the heat will certainly be turned up gradually before the inferno that is the Dean Dome. All the Badgers can do to both prepare for that game and to continue to improve as a team is to keep winning. Three more victories and the focus can finally square up on the Tar Heels.

Badgers Continue To Roll With Rout of Wofford

Wisconsin has a bit of a history with Wofford, with the Terriers having given UW the scare of a lifetime in a 53-49 Badger win in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. But while there have been many instances of déjà vu for Badger athletics in recent weeks, Saturday night’s rematch was not among those as Wisconsin’s stifling defense eventually led to a 69-33 Badger win. Once again, it was the defense that shined for Wisconsin. After holding their first two opponents to just 29% from the field, the Badgers upped their game early on, holding the Terriers at just 20% in the first twenty minutes of play, heading into the locker room on a 19-2 run that led to a 32-12 halftime lead. “You always like a run like that,” junior forward Ryan Evans said. “But it all starts with defense.” “{Wofford} hurts a lot of teams inside…” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “If you have people that are committed to {playing good defense}, it tends to make the whole look a lot better.” From there, it was simply an easy cruise toward victory, as Wisconsin continued to extend the lead until it finally reached its peak of 36 following a last second jumper by junior walk-on J.D. Wise, a turnaround attempt that got the Badger bench on its feet with less than a minute remaining in the game. Once again, the Badger scoring came from across the board. Three Badgers finished Saturday in double digits, led by sophomore guard Josh Gasser, whose four-for-four performance from beyond the arc led to a 16-point night. “I have more confidence this year and that just comes with maturing from freshman year to sophomore year…” Gasser said. “A lot of guys are knocking down shots and that just leaves me open.” Perhaps the biggest story was the man who was not involved heavily in the scoring, senior guard Jordan Taylor. Having been called upon to put points on the board throughout last season’s Sweet 16 campaign, the preseason first-team All-American point guard took command of the troops quietly on Saturday, only attempting three shots in the game and finishing the night with just four points. Once again, Taylor was ultra-efficient, racking up four assists without committing a turnover. “We all know what he can do,” Evans said. “But he’s just playing real team ball right now.” When the Badgers are able to get scoring from anywhere, opponents are finding them tough to defend. Add in the versatility of the Badger big men, their capability of shooting from distance, and you have a formula for success that has kept UW virtually unbeatable at home under Bo Ryan. “I think they’re very good…” Wofford head coach Mike Young said after the game. “It requires a level of awareness and a level of toughness to guard that. Such a grind, such a grind to play the Badgers.” The Badgers have one more warm-up in Madison as part of the Chicago Invitational when they face UMKC on Tuesday night. After that, UW heads south to face Bradley in the Chicago Invitational with a Saturday contest against either BYU or Nevada to round out the pre-UNC portion of the nonconference schedule. Three more victories and the Badgers have the table set for a big-time match-up in Chapel Hill.

Ted Porath- Familiar Wofford Heading to Madison

The No. 13 Badgers (3-0) will host the Wofford Terriers Saturday night at the Kohl Center. The Badgers have looked rather impressive in their first two games, winning them by 54 and 27, respectively. In these games the Wisconsin offense has averaged 76.5 points per game and is shooting over 50 percent from the field. What has really caught the eye of everyone though has been the Badgers’ ability to make three point shots. The Badgers made 15 against Kennesaw State and 10 against Colgate, shooting over 52 percent from three in those two games. “If that’s what the defense is giving us, we’ll take it,” Head Coach Bo Ryan said of his team shooting so many threes. “I don’t think there was one three in there that was really a bad three.” The star of the Badger offense thus far has been sophomore guard Ben Brust, who has come off the bench to be a spark plug and an x-factor for Wisconsin. Brust has averaged 15.5 points in the first two games, hitting 50 percent of his shots and making eight of his 16 attempted threes. While it has been Ben’s shooting ability that has gotten him all the press, he has been playing solid defense this year and been contributing in all other facets of the game. Coach Ryan emphasized that this is why Ben has gotten his opportunity this year. “Ben can hunt a shot down pretty well, but defensively and ball-handling and decision-making [he had work to do],” Ryan said. “If a guy’s ready he’ll play, if a guy isn’t he works his way into playing, but now he’s trying to be a defensive player and a good passer and a good rebounder. Wisconsin’s ability to defend has just as much to do with their winning this year as their ability to knock down shots, if not more. The Badgers have been able to hold their two opponents to an average of only a measly 36 points per game, and in these games the Badgers have been able to hold their opponents to contested jump shots, resulting in very low percentage from the field (29 percent). Typical though of a Bo Ryan coached team, Wisconsin, despite its success, feels it can improve defensively. Wofford is coming into Saturday’s game having rebounded off of its first loss against Georgia to win its last game against Emory & Henry 70-55 on Sunday. While Wofford might not seem like a tough opponent, the Badgers should ask the 2009 Badgers about just how tough they are to beat; Wofford played Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA tournament and was leading in the game but ended up losing by only four points. Wofford is coming off its second-straight Southern Conference title, and though they have lost four of their starters from last year’s team, including SoCon player of the year Noah Dahlman, they have a legacy of winning which means they will not be afraid of Wisconsin or coming to the Kohl Center.

Ted Porath- Badgers Rout Colgate Despite Sloppy Play

After a resounding 54 point victory against Kennesaw State on Saturday, in which the Badgers shot 15-25 from behind the arc and moved up one spot to No. 14 in the AP Poll, Wisconsin looked to pick up its second regular season win against the Colgate Raiders of the Patriot League in the teams’ first ever matchup. The Badgers (2-0) were able to pick up another easy win as they beat the Colgate Raiders (1-1) 68-41. This was Wisconsin’s 21st consecutive win at the Kohl Center and the 38th in their last 39 home games. The Badgers came out firing in the first half once again, making seven of their first 11 three pointers and shot 52 percent overall to score 42 first half points. The second half was more of a struggle for the Badger offense, scoring only 26 points. The main reason for this was an over eight minute shooting funk at the beginning of the second half in which Wisconsin missed 12 of their first 13 shots, including a 0 for 9 stretch. Coach Bo Ryan was not concerned, chalking this up to simply missing shots. “Sometimes shots don’t go down and that’s why you take the entity. You can’t take a minute here, five minutes there,” Ryan said. “Basketball can be that way sometimes; sometimes the shots just aren’t going.” Despite a worse shooting percentage from the field in this game (44.3 percent), the Badgers were still able to be effective offensively, as they were dominant down low, outscoring Colgate 32-12 in the paint and were once again able to shoot a high percentage from three, making 10 of their 23 shots behind the arc. Leading the way for the Badgers was once again sophomore Ben Brust, who is proving to be an x-factor as the sixth man. After hitting four out of eight threes in Saturday’s game, Brust wasted no time to get acclimated to Wednesday night’s game. Brust was once again a force coming off the bench, staying red hot making 4 out his first five threes and scoring 12 of the Badgers first 32 points. Though Brust was less effective on offense in the second half, he was still able to come away with 17 points for the game. Junior center Jared Berggren was big reason the Badgers controlled the paint, scoring 9 points and hitting the boards for 7 rebounds. After a solid performance in the Badgers’ first game he backed it up in the second and could be the force in the paint that the Badgers desperately need down the road this year. The Badgers once again played defense, getting deflections and filling passing lanes, which allowed them come up with11 steals and outscore Colgate 9-0 on the fast break. Junior forward Ryan Evans was a big contributor to that, contributing with four steals of his own to go along with his seven points. Despite the Badgers’ success thus far, they will have to improve on their free throw shooting if they are to be an elite team this year. This is surprising as Bo Ryan’s teams are usually one of the best in the country at the charity stripe. The Badgers only made four out of 14 free throws against Colgate and have only shot 52 percent on the year at the line. The Badgers will now shift their focus to the Wofford Terriers, who come to Madison Saturday night. Wofford is 1-1, having lost to Georgia on the road in their first game and beating Emory & Henry 70-55 at home in their next game.

UW Ready For Raiders

There was plenty to talk about following Wisconsin’s 85-31 season opening win over Kennesaw State. From the record-tying first half in which the Badgers only gave up 8 points to the 54 point margin of victory, their largest since 2006, the season opener was certainly a wake up call to a UW fan base heading into yet another season not knowing what to expect. Having dismantled a somewhat one-dimensional Owl team Saturday, Wisconsin now faces the challenge of facing a much more disciplined, multi-dimensional Colgate team. “We know the experience level of most teams is going to go up {from Kennesaw State},” UW head coach Bo Ryan said Monday. “They’ll play better together and play better off each other on both ends of the court.” Colgate is one of those teams, led by two seniors in guard Mike Venezia and forward Sterling Melville who combined for 39 points in Colgate’s 78-74 season opening win over Binghamton, the Raiders’ first season opening win in three years. “You like to play good teams earlier in the year that can prepare you for the Big Ten season and for tougher non-conference play,” sophomore guard Josh Gasser said. “We know Colgate is going to be a good team, they are well coached and they run their system right.” One way that UW figures to combat that system is by making sure that the frontcourt remains a presence both in terms of scoring and on the boards, an area where the size advantage UW has should allow them to dominate. Juniors Jared Berggren and Ryan Evans both finished Saturday’s game in double-digits scoring, with fellow junior Mike Bruesewitz adding a 7-point, 4-assist, and 8-rebound performance of his own. Bruesewitz and the rest of the big men have focused not only on providing a boost to the team’s point totals, but more importantly on taking care of the little things that may or may not show up on the box score. “There was times when I maybe could have taken a shot but I passed up a good shot for a great shot,” Bruesewitz said. “That’s how you shoot 65% from three is when you have a lot of guys who are unselfish. Little things are so important and they contribute to why we’re so efficient offensively.” The emphasis on the little things goes beyond just the big men up front. Senior guard Jordan Taylor, having led the country in assist-to-turnover ratio last season, turned in another efficient performance Saturday with 7 assists and no turnovers. “Jordan is obviously a good scorer pretty much whenever he wants but teams are going to take him away,” sophomore guard Josh Gasser said. “He’s such a good point guard that he wont make bad decisions and he will get other guys involved.” One of those guys Taylor will look for on Wednesday is sophomore guard Ben Brust. Having only seen minimal time during his freshman year, Brust has surged onto the scene early this year, finishing Saturday’s regular season opener with a team-high 14 points coming off the bench. “When I did get those opportunities {last season} and I watched myself not have success, it just eats at you,” Brust said. “I just looked back and I said I would never let that happened again.” Brust is not alone in playing with that chip on his shoulder, as the drive to continue to improve and to continue to succeed seems to permeate the entire Badger roster. So while Colgate comes to Madison with an experienced and talented group of players primed to pull off the upset, Wisconsin simply doesn’t seem ready to let anything like that happen anytime soon.