Five Takeaways from No.8 Wisconsin's 82-76 Win at Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. – There’s still a lot of basketball left, and another physical opponent on the schedule in 72 hours, but the University of Wisconsin finds itself in first place in the Big Ten conference.

Others outside the program may be shocked, but the eighth-ranked Badgers expected to be right where they are.

“We all knew from the summer that we’d be really good,” freshman Chucky Hepburn said. “We had to go out there and prove it.”

Tuesday was more validation that a) Wisconsin basketball is a legitimate Big Ten title contender and b) Johnny Davis is on the shortlist for national player of the year. The Badgers put their starters in double figures and Davis returned to form with 27 points in an 82-76 victory at Northwestern.

Winners of seven in a row, Wisconsin (15-2, 6-1 Big Ten) improved to 7-1 away from home and won its seventh straight over Northwestern (9-7, 2-5).

Here are my five takeaways from the victory at Welsh-Ryan Arena

It wasn’t quite a rack to the eyes, but it was definitely a poke to the face that stunned Davis. What bothered head coach Greg Gard, even more, was that the officials weren’t going to review the play. No matter. After all, UW is finding out that the more teams get physical with Davis, the more the sophomore is going to push back.

“We went right back to him (out of the timeout), knowing how he’s wired that he would deliver in there,” Gard said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Davis fulfilled the prophecy by delivering a driving layup (with a little bit of dried blood in his nose), showing aggressiveness that propelled him to 27 points, eight rebounds, three steals, and two assists. After missing 14 of 18 shots in Thursday’s win over Ohio State, Davis went 8-for-15 and hit 4 3-pointers in UW’s seventh straight victory over the Wildcats.

“I think I did a good job of not letting all the bumps and bruises get to me,” Davis said. “I thought I did a really good job of keeping my composure, and so did my team.”

Davis didn’t attempt his first shot until 14:13 of the first half and didn’t make his first field goal until 11:21 remained. He had 10 points at halftime but came out driving to start the second half. His aggression paid off with free throws, layups, and rebounds, including one where he secured his own miss and finished with three NU players swiping at him.

“He’s a special talent,” Gard said of Davis. “He’s got good teammates around him that put him in good position. He’s a competitor.”

Davis is even getting luck his way. Unsuccessful in trying to draw a foul on a 3-point shot, Davis’s off-balanced attempt banked off the glass and went in, giving the Badgers a 76-68 lead with 2:15 remaining.

“I guess I was feeling it tonight,” Davis said.

It’s been evident over the last three games (at Maryland, Ohio State, at NU) that teams are going to be throwing bodies at Davis and try to be chippy with him. The sophomore showed Tuesday that plan isn’t going to consistently work either.

"He didn't back down," senior Brad Davison said. "That's the competitor in him. You might hit him, but he's going to hit back."

If Hepburn wasn’t accustomed to Big Ten play by now, he was throughout the first half Tuesday. Knocked down on screens and battered around through a physical first half, Hepburn admitted afterward that is an area he needs to grow in. One area he did focus on pregame was hunting his shot, and he delivered on that front in multiple ways

Hepburn scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half, including a buzzer-beating heave from just shy of midcourt that was an exclamation point for the Badgers heading into the locker room.

The true freshman was an efficient 6-for-10 from the field, 2-for-3 from 3-point range, and committed no turnovers in 35 minutes on the court.

“I need to be more aggressive on offense,” said Hepburn, who said he hit a half-court shot his senior year. “If I could do that, I think our team will be way better than we are now.”

Hepburn had a tough cover in Northwestern’s Boo Buie (17 points, 7-for-17 shooting) but he helped neutralize some of that with his highest scoring output since December 4. While his halfcourt heave will get a lot of play, Hepburn’s fadeaway baseline jumper in the second half was just as big. With Northwestern trying to get back in the game, Hepburn’s shot made it 58-52 with 13:10 remaining.

“It’s fun watching him grow,” Davis said of Hepburn. “I remember my freshman year. I don’t think I was adapting as quick to the game as he was. That’s credit to him.”

Northwestern is easily better than its record. The Wildcats’ six losses have all been by eight points or less and NU was coming off a victory at No.10 Michigan State. One of its best traits was being ranked third in the conference in field goal percentage defense (39.4), but Wisconsin blew past that by shooting 51.9 percent from the floor.

That number becomes more impressive considering the Badgers started 3-for-10 from the floor over the first 8:04. UW made its last five 3-pointers and went 6-for-8 from the perimeter. Five of those threes came with an assist attached to them from a low-post kick out. The other was Hepburn beating the clock with his heave from halfcourt.

UW shot 54.2 percent in the second half and finished with 17 assists on 28 made field goals.

A program known more for slow, low-possession basketball is suddenly experiencing an offensive surge. Wisconsin topped the 70-point mark for the seventh consecutive game (the first time they’ve done that since 2016-17) and has topped 70 points in five consecutive Big Ten wins for the first time since 1962.

It’s not just Davis either. All five starters scored in double figures for the second time in the last four games, and UW scored 41 points in the first half for the third time in the last four contests. While the points are nice, the Badgers still rely on their defense, which brings us to …

Wisconsin has been so good closing teams out that it was uncharacteristic watching them let the Wildcats climb back into the mix. The Badgers led by 10 with 1:25 to go but gave up 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to cut the lead to 80-76 with 48.5 seconds left.

Davison narrowly turned the ball over twice after that, being trapped near the Northwestern bench before getting a timeout and then having the ball poked out and a mad scramble resulting in a jump ball. A foul was called on a steal attempt by Chase Audige that appeared to be a break for UW, but Davis missed two free throws.

Fortunately, Hepburn played tremendous defense on leading scorer Pete Nance, causing a miss that was rebounded by Tyler Wahl with 14.8 seconds left. Wahl made the second of two free throws for an 81-76 lead, and then rebounded another Northwestern miss with 7.5 seconds left.

He again went 1-for-2 from the line but it was enough for UW to escape.

In the final minute, UW went 2-for-8 from the line and committed 11 turnovers for the game, the most since December 4.

Wisconsin got 78 points from its starters, meaning there was a lot of scoring zeros from the bench. However, the work of Chris Vogt and especially Carter Gilmore in the first half helped the Badgers get to halftime with Steven Crowl on the bench with a pair of fouls for the final 10+ minutes.

When Crowl had to sit, Gard went to Vogt and Wahl in the low post until the 5:44 mark. Vogt delivered three rebounds, a block, and a dunk in that stretch. Gilmore came and delivered an assist on his first possession to Hepburn. He finished with three assists and two rebounds in his five first-half minutes.

“That was important, just because of the lineup with them trying to match bigs,” Gard said.

Gard acknowledged that he needs to get guys like Gilmore, guard Jahcobi Neath, and forward Ben Carlson involved more, a slight challenge for the latter two because of previous injuries. But the play of Gilmore could be important with more physical teams – like Michigan State Friday – coming up.

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