Wisconsin Stat Pack: Blue Devils Edition

MADISON, Wis. - Led by their cast of freshmen, the Wisconsin Badgers defeated UW-Stout in an exhibition matchup at the Kohl Center Sunday afternoon. The regular season kicks off in five days, so it is only fitting BadgerBlitz.com brings you the last pre-season Stat Pack.

1. Shooting up a Prayer

Against Northern Iowa last week, the Badgers shot 41 percent from behind the arc. This week, Wisconsin’s three-point touch was slightly worse, as they shot a combined 37.5 percent from downtown.

Specifically, Brevin Pritzl (2-6 3-PT.), Aleem Ford (0-4 3-PT.) and Charles Thomas (0-2 3-PT) struggled from deep.

After the game, head coach Greg Gard stressed he wants his players to, "feed the post more and not shoot as many pull-up threes," moving forward.

2. Small Ball

Although these stats may not light up the college basketball Twitter-sphere, the Badgers outperformed the Blue Devils besides the score total. UW scored 18 points off turnovers, grabbed 42 total rebounds and recorded two blocks. In total, there wasn’t much of a physical matchup for the Badgers to worry about against UW-Stout.

However, in an exhibition game, any practice can make perfect.

3. Free is Good

During the 2016-17 season, the Badgers struggled to convert free throws, as they shot just 45 percent from the line a year ago. Through two exhibition games this year, UW has experienced its fair share of game-like free throws.

Sunday, Wisconsin shot 69.2 percent from the free-throw line.

After the win, true freshman guard Brad Davison emphasized how important it is for the team to succeed, and get, to the line during games.

“Coach stresses every practice, every timeout, just get it inside and get the ball to the free-throw line,” Davison said. “Its definitely one of our advantages on this team.”

4. Grabbing on and never letting go

The largest lead UW-Stout boasted was an early 2-0 margin as the first half began.

Evidently, the final score suggests how that lead panned out for the Blue Devils.

Wisconsin led for over 98 percent of both halves, with their largest lead mirroring the final score (29 points).

However, the Blue Devils pulled within single digits in the first half before the Badger offense began scoring.

5. Living Preseason Highlight Reel

In case you missed Kobe King's dunk, UW-Madison tweeted it out, which can be found below.

After the game, King confessed he is anxious for the regular season to start.

"Very eager is an understatement," King said. "Even with the foreign tour, we had extra practices and I think we're all looking forward to it."

Indeed, Badger fans should look forward to more team-high stats and Twitter gifs from the young star. On the day, King was awarded two Twitter gifs from the University’s MBB twitter account, a fantastic stat if you’re into that sort of thing.