Five Takeaways from Wisconsin's 81-58 Win Over St. Francis Brooklyn

MADISON, Wis. – This was exactly the performance a young team needed to start with.

Wisconsin didn’t let its distinct size and talent advantage across the board go to waste in the 2021-22 season opener, as the Badgers easily defeated St. Francis Brooklyn, 81-58, on Tuesday.

Wisconsin shot 43.9 percent from the field, put three players in double figures, and emptied its bench with all 15 players seeing action. Twelve of them scored, as the Badgers won their home opener for the sixth straight season under head coach Greg Gard.

Here are five takeaways from the Kohl Center.

Sensing that point guard Chucky Hepburn would be his starter for the 2021-22 season, Gard wanted to gauge the true freshman’s readiness over the summer.

“I kind of said this summer, ‘you ready?” Gard recalled. “He said, ‘Coach, I’ll be ready.’”

When Hepburn was announced in the starting lineup Tuesday, he became the fourth freshman to start the season opener and the first true freshman to start an opener since Devin Harris in 2001. He maintains he had no nerves, although he walked the wrong way after going through the team’s handshake line.

“I had no idea where to go,” Hepburn joked.

There were a few other noticeable mistakes in Hepburn’s 23 minutes on the court, but along with the youth, there was a mixture of bravado and calmness. While he did take some ill-advised shots, including clunking a 3-point attempt late in the first half that led to three points before the halftime horn for the Terriers, Hepburn hit some big shots that sparked an early 12-0 run that gave UW the lead for good.

Among his 13 points, Hepburn finished 2-for-3 from 3-point range, encouraging since perimeter shooting was hit-and-miss last season. He finished with a plus/minus of 19, the third-best mark on the team.

“I think I came in ready to start for the Badgers, but I got to clean up some things defensively and offensively,” Hepburn said. “The last two turnovers I had I probably shouldn’t have even had. Just mental things, so I got to get better at that.”

There were still moments of youth, like the two turnovers Hepburn mentioned. The last one was when he spun around to pass without checking his blind spot, leading to a fast break and free throws on the other end. He was subbed out at the next whistled and given lengthy teaching points by Gard before taking a seat on the bench.

Hepburn said he got tired toward the end, but Gard said that’s to be expected considering how hard he plays.

“We’ll build his endurance and conditioning,” Gard said. “A lot of good things.”

One of the many issues for Wisconsin last season was the inability for the offense to break out of scoring funks, prolong droughts where nobody on the floor could generate offense to stop the bleeding. It’s just one game, something Gard said repeatedly in his postgame media session, but it was hard not to notice Jonathan Davis spark the offense in both halves.

UW started the game 0-for-6 from the floor, but Davis scored on consecutive trips down the floor and outlet a pass to Hepburn for a transition layup. The run extended to 12-0 run, as Hepburn and Lorne Bowman added 3-pointers.

In the second half, with Wisconsin leading 49-31 with 16:04 remaining, Davis scored the game’s next nine points over a 2 minute, 33 second stretch, doing so from the free-throw line, the paint, and the 3-point line.

Davis talked in the offseason about hunting his shot more and, most importantly, becoming a facilitator within the offense. He achieved that in his first collegiate start, leading the team with 15 points, adding three rebounds, having two steals (leading to five points), and a career-high five assists with zero turnovers.

“When they were very extended and pressuring, he was able to get into the paint and make some plays,” Gard said. “Five assists and no turnovers, for him, that’s something we’ve worked on and try to continue to develop and grow to make those plays and make them under control.”

With an older (dare I say slower) team last season, Wisconsin scored 13 or more fast-break points just five times in 31 games. The Badgers notched 13 in game one.

It’s more than just the opponent Wisconsin was playing, however. The Badgers registered six steals, four blocks, and 33 defensive rebounds. The Badgers had 10 fast-break points in the first half because it forced 22 misses while having six assists.

“We were pretty good and really connected,” Gard said of the opening 20 minutes. “Everybody talks about the synergy and cohesion that needs to happen offensively. It obviously has to happen defensively, too. I’ve felt we are further ahead down the road defensively than offensively. Now we got to continue to sustain it for longer periods of time.”

Pushing the tempo can be a strength of this team not only because of what the Badgers do defensively but because of the new personnel who are a part of the rotation.

“I didn’t think (pushing tempo) was something we did last year but now that we got Chucky here, we got a little more athleticism and quickness in the backcourt,” Davis said. “You’re going to see a lot of that this year.”

Hepburn added his high school team had around 30 transition points a game. Whether he was embellishing or not, that must be music to the ears of UW fans who have been critical of the Badgers’ plodding pace in the past.

“Playing fast is always something I like to do,” Hepburn said.

Playing only 36 minutes last season, Steven Crowl did a lot of watching through the first 31 games of his college career. From that time on the bench and the experiences of going against forward Micah Potter in practice, Crowl knew he had to get a lot stronger and more physical if he wanted to cut it on the court. After 19 minutes on the court in the first game, Crowl showed his chops.

Likely the starting center for Wisconsin this season, Crowl scored 11 points and had eight rebounds in split time with senior Chris Vogt (2 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks). He scored a total of eight points in his 13 games last season and nearly eclipsed that total in the first four-plus minutes of the second half, scoring five of UW’s seven points leading into the first media timeout.

How Crowl plays when he has to go against players his size would be a truer test but the first sample looks promising.

Prior to tipoff, Wisconsin announces that true freshmen forwards Chris Hodges and Matthew Mors will redshirt for the 2021-22 season. Both said in a UW-issued release that they came to decision after talking with the coaching staff and decided it would be in their best interest to develop physically.

Neither decision comes as a surprise. Hodges did not play last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while Mors was fifth on UW’s depth chart in the frontcourt. Hodges averaged 15.5 points (69.8% FG), 8.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game as a junior. Mors – a three-time South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year - averaged 24.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.5 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game last season.

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