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Jonathan Davis Developing as Wisconsin's Most Efficient Option

MADISON, Wis. – University of Wisconsin guard Jonathan Davis is a quiet, no-nonsense true freshman. He’s spoken to reporters twice over Zoom this season and his answers are short and informative, albeit without revealing too much.

He doesn’t need to say much; he lets his play do the talking.

“When I play basketball,” Davis said, “I try to play a complete game.”

Davis has lived up to those expectations to become a crucial boost off the bench for No.10 Wisconsin (12-3, 6-2 Big Ten), a combination of energy, ability and athleticism that has carved out a niche on a senior-laden team halfway through the regular season.

Wisconsin's Jonathan Davis shoots past Northwestern's Chase Audige during the first half of the Badgers' 68-52 victory.
Wisconsin's Jonathan Davis shoots past Northwestern's Chase Audige during the first half of the Badgers' 68-52 victory. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

“He can score in so many different ways and that’s what's making him so dangerous,” senior guard D’Mitrik Trice said. “He doesn’t just bring offense. He brings energy, he rebounds really well and he takes the shots that are available to him, and he’s athletic.

“He just brings that extra dimension to our team that another guy that (opponents) got to key on. Even as a freshman, he’s going out there with a lot of energy and a lot of passion."

Even on a team with five seniors in the starting lineup, a senior guard on the bench and an experienced sophomore coming off the bench who could play multiple positions, Davis – a former four-star guard out of La Crosse, Wis. – has been an able to make an indelible impression and carve out a role.

He scored 12 points at Marquette and against Loyola-Chicago. In the latter match-up, Wisconsin outscored the Ramblers by 27 points during the 23 minutes Davis was on the floor by him scoring on transition, off jump shots and on 3-point looks.

In Wednesday’s victory over Northwestern, Davis had eight points, six rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal in just 22 minutes.

“I kind of knew that when I decided to come here, I wasn't planning on coming here to sit at all,” Davis said.

Entering Saturday’s home game against No.15 Ohio State (11-4, 5-4), Davis’s value can’t be understated. According to analytical data at evanmiya.com, Wisconsin’s offensive efficiency rating when he is on the floor is an average of 116.5 points per 100 possessions. The number ranks second on the team, just 0.4 points behind senior guard Trevor Anderson, who on average plays 8.9 fewer minutes per game than Davis. Using the metric to reflect Davis’s offensive value, he is fifth on the team for rotation players.

“I don’t care how good you were in high school, coming into this level is such a big step up, I wanted him to navigate it at his own pace and be comfortable,” head coach Greg Gard said. “Let him find his way organically, not force feed him. He’s found ways to make plays. His instincts are good, his athleticism is really good.”

Davis hasn’t been immune to the freshman ebbs and flows. Going a combined 3-for-19 shooting in a three-game stretch against Indiana, Michigan and Rutgers, Davis went 0-for-6 from the field against the Wolverines and battled foul trouble against the Scarlet Knights that limited him to a season-low 11 minutes.

Chalking those games up to a freshman’s learning process, Davis was his familiar self against the Wildcats. In a three possession stretch, he made plays at the rim by using shot fakes and dribble drives to the lane, going up and under for a bucket and using a simple cut to flush a one-handed slam off a pass from guard Brad Davison. Davis’s plus/minus ratio in 11 first-half minutes was plus-10.

“He found his niche there in the first half with easy layups, a dunk and just running in transition,” Trice said. “I think that’s where he can be really good.”

With 14:16 remaining and Wisconsin mired in a shooting slump, Davis hustled to an offensive rebound and saved the pass jumping out of bounds to Tyler Wahl. He watched Wahl calmly hit an open 3-point shot that sparked a 12-0 run that effectively put the game away.

That play was one of Davis’s three offensive rebounds, giving him 22 for the season to put him four behind forward Micah Potter for the team lead. Using the same analytical formula, Wisconsin gives up 88.5 points per 100 possession when Davis is on the floor, the third-best mark on the team.

“He’s really good at defense,” Trice said, as Davis’s 4.6 rebounds per game is second only to Potter. “He’s long and athletic. He comes in and gets a lot of rebounds with his athleticism and jumping over guys, boxing out and making the smart plays. Even if he’s not scoring, he knows that he’s in there to get rebounds, make the right play, make assists and then knock down those open shots, really not force anything.”

Davis isn’t the first true freshman to carve out a niche on Wisconsin’s roster, but the circumstances surrounding his production make it noteworthy. The Badgers lost a lot of their traditional summer workouts because of COVID and didn’t have their usual preseason exhibition and closed-door scrimmages. UW also didn’t play its usual assortment of “buy” games to fluff the record and give younger players more extended time.

So, as Davis gets more confident with what the staff is asking him, expect more tricks to come from his arsenal.

“I’m happy with where he’s at, (but) I’ve seen him do things in practice that you haven’t seen in a game yet,” Gard said. “That’ll happen when he’s comfortable and he’s confident doing those types of things in games.”

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