Five Takeaways from No.11 Wisconsin's 73-65 Victory at Nebraska

It’s not a road result that is going to send shockwaves across the conference, but No.11 Wisconsin’s 73-65 victory over Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena is another notch in the belt of a team that evidently is confident and comfortable in different environments.

Since losing its first conference road game in December to Ohio State, Wisconsin had won all four of its road contests and improved to 8-1 away from home this season. No Big Ten team has won more away from home this season and only No.1 Auburn and No.15 USC (9) have more such wins. For comparison, last year’s veteran-laden squad was just 6-6 against Big Ten teams away from home.

Here are my five takeaways from Thursday, a victory that put the Badgers (16-3, 7-2 Big Ten) back into first place in the Big Ten.

Chucky Hepburn has played 11 games in Lincoln during an illustrious prep career at Omaha Bellevue West. None likely compared to the emotional strife he was dealing with leading up to the game.

Hepburn returned to his native Nebraska for his first college game, originally expected to be a joyous occasion for a true freshman who has been a bright spot for UW and is averaging 30.8 minutes, 7.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. That mindset changed shortly after midnight Monday when Hepburn’s close friend, Vincent Burns, was shot outside a sports bar in Omaha. The 20-year-old was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Hepburn was excused from practice Monday and will travel to Omaha for the funeral Friday before returning to Madison. UW’s next game is Sunday at home against Minnesota.

He couldn’t have started the game any better, hitting a 3-pointer on the first possession and gathering an offensive rebound on the next, leading to a hook shot by Steven Crowl. That set the stage for a big night for Hepburn: 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting (3-for-5 3-pointers), three rebounds, three steals, two assists, and one turnover in 25 minutes.

“That’s important anytime you can knock down a couple shots early and get your confidence up,” head coach Greg Gard. “He’s had a lot of success in here. It’s been a rough week for him. You can’t wish that upon anybody with what they had to go through. It won’t be easier as they go through the week here. I’m proud of how he played and how his teammates picked him up through the week.”

Hepburn relayed that his brother wanted him to be more aggressive and decisive. He relayed them to him before the Michigan State game, a performance that Hepburn said didn’t fit the billing since he finished with six points on 2-for-6 shooting.

“I know that my brother wants me to just go out and compete,” Hepburn said. “Playing this game and going on forward I want to be more aggressive for him.”

Dealing with off-the-court issues is nothing new for Wisconsin. In December, center Chris Vogt was playing with a heavy heart after his hometown of Mayfield, Kentucky, was devasted by a tornado. Earlier this week, Gard announced that his mother, Connie, has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is in her fourth week of chemotherapy.

“You always focus on things that are bigger than basketball,” Gard said this week. Sometimes the outside world doesn’t have that view. These are 18-to-20-year-old kids. They’re human. They go through life challenges just like everyone else does. As I told the team, we’re all going to go through some type of adversity. Not missing a jump shot, no missing a block out, not losing a game, real adversity.”

If Brad Davison every game at Nebraska every game, he’d likely be the best 3-point shooter in the history of college basketball. Two years after tying the school record with eight three-point field goals, Davison hit five 3-pointers and scored a team-high 21 points to pace four Badgers in double figures.

All five of Davison’s first-half field goals were 3-point shots, as Wisconsin hit a season-high nine 3-pointers in the first half. UW went just 4-for-24 from 2-point range and 4-for-7 from the line but led 39-31 because the Badgers outscored Nebraska by 18 from the perimeter.

“We were struggling inside to finish,” Davison said. “We were getting what we wanted, a lot of good looks around the rim. We just couldn’t get the lid off the basket. Thankfully we got some threes to fall.”

Hitting three-pointers at Nebraska has never been a problem for Davison. In five career games at the Huskers, Davison has averaged 17.6 ppg and shot 21-39 (53.8 percent) from the 3-point range.

And in a bit of irony, two years after tying Bronson Koenig’s school-record eight 3-pointers against the Huskers, Davison broke Koenig’s school record for career 3-pointers. Davison now has 274 3-pointers, four more than Koenig.

“It’s a really cool record to have,” Davison said. “I’ve played with a lot of good teammates. I have had a lot of opportunities to get good looks. I’m just going to stay confident and try to knock them down.”

Without Tyler Wahl on the floor Friday, Wisconsin’s transition defense was beleaguered and battered by getting outscored 21-2 in fast-break points. With Wahl back on the floor, UW was able to create problems for a Nebraska team that ranked eighth in possessions per game and 21st in tempo.

UW was just 1-for-8 from 3-point range in the second half but the Badgers built a lead as big as 18 points by attacking the low post. Of Wisconsin’s 30 points in the paint, 22 came in the second half. The Badgers also outscored Nebraska, 14-9, in transition points, all of which came in the second half.

“It’s a sign of a really good team when you can’t key in on one style or one-shot or one guy,” Davison said. “There’s a lot of different weapons out there and there’s a lot of different ways we can beat you. Whether it’s making threes, posts playing with our back to the basket, or getting out in transition, we want to make sure we can score in a lot of different ways, so it’s a lot harder to guard us.”

Wisconsin announced roughly 90 minutes before tipoff that Wahl would be active. That was good news for the Badgers that the ankle injury suffered last Tuesday at Northwestern only cost UW’s top forward one game. It was even better news for UW’s rotation, particularly Ben Carlson.

Carlson struggled in the first half against the Spartans, but Gard was encouraged with how the sophomore forward played in the second half and Davison heaped praise on him earlier in the week with how Carlson had been practicing.

Carlson missed a majority of last season with a back injury and has missed time this year with various issues. With those issues in the past and his ability to practice more, Carlson finished with six points, five rebounds (four offensive rebounds), and no turnovers in 22 minutes.

“I thought he was active, did some good things defensively,” Gard said of Carlson. “The experience he’s been able to get the last couple games, plus the more practice time. He’s gotten into a consistent practice routine, which is always the first step in becoming a good player. You got to practice and practice well. Obviously, Tyler being out or limited the last couple days, there’s been more opportunities and he’s got an abundance of reps. I think that experience is helping him.”

With limited practice time this week, Gard said he wanted to play Wahl in short stints to make sure the injured right ankle held up without any setbacks.

“(Wahl) said he felt fine,” Gard said. “The day after is always the best test to see how it feels. It’s been consistently getting better throughout the week.”

There haven’t been many instances this season where sophomore Johnny Davis has looked powerless but the first half against the Huskers was close to that. The guard missed all five of his shots, including three jumpers and a layup, and committed two fouls that limited him to 13 minutes.

The fix was simple at halftime, playing off two feet. The result was a better offensive flow. He scored a layup on UW’s first possession and delivered an assist on a Crowl 3-pointer on the second one. He delivered a highlight-reel spin and dunk on Nebraska senior Kobe Webster, but a mini 4-0 run after the Huskers cut the lead to six was a knockout blow.

“There were bigger gaps for him to drive,” Gard said of Davis, who took advantage of UW’s 3-point shooting in the first half to score 13 second-half points. “He got a couple things in transition, finished well in transition, and got to the free-throw line, which was important. (The) first half I thought they did a decent job sending extra bodies at him. He’s got to continue to adapt and adjust to any ball movement when that happens, finding other ways to score, and continue to facilitate to his teammates.”

Although he finished one rebound shy of a double-double, Davis has scored in double figures in all 17 games he has played this season.

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