MADISON, Wis. - It was bound to happen eventually.

Wisconsin senior forward Ethan Happ draws plenty of deserved attention when he is on the court for the Badgers. Averaging 19.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game will do that. And while teams will certainly continue to try and stop Happ the best that they can when they play the Badgers in the future, they may start to focus more on stopping someone else: sophomore point guard D’Mitrik Trice.

It worked for the Marquette Golden Eagles, who held Trice to just 10 points and a 1-for-6 performance from the 3-point line during their 74-69 overtime win over the Badgers in Milwaukee last weekend. And it worked for the Virginia Cavaliers, who beat the Badgers 53-46 in the title game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas - they held Trice to just five points, way under his season average of 16.3 points per game.

Marquette found a way to keep a lid on Trice by doing their best to take away his right hand - forcing him to go left on his long-range shots from the perimeter. Trice came in to the game shooting a scorching-hot 60 percent from 3-point range overall, so it was worth a try.

It worked - and because it worked, you can bet other teams on Wisconsin’s schedule will try and emulate Marquette’s success. At the same time, it will be up to Trice and the rest of the UW offense to find a way to counter-punch - possibly by kicking the ball back inside to Happ. For his part, Trice said after practice on Tuesday that he’s ready to build off of his self-described learning experience against the Golden Eagles and continue helping the Badgers have the balanced attack that has helped them open their season on a high note compared to last year.

“There’s always something that I can work on in every game, in every aspect,” Trice said on Tuesday. “Basketball is a game of imperfection. I learned a lot from what Marquette tried to do with me on ball screens and force me left and try to get it out of my hands in late shot clock (situations). Definitely things that I can work on. Definitely used it as a learning experience.”

One other way Trice and the Badgers could combat an increased defensive emphasis on the perimeter is to run their offense a little longer and make an extra pass to try and get a better look than the one they have. And while the Badgers were generally pretty satisfied with the looks they did get from 3-point range against the Golden Eagles, Trice said that it can’t hurt to double-down on what has always been an important part of their offense.

“There were a couple of times where we felt as a team that I should have made the one more pass or kind of hesitated on a couple shots here and there,” Trice said Tuesday. “Just try and make the better play. It’s just something that I have to learn from and watch the film on my own and with coach Oliver specifically, just getting with him and working on some film things.”

The Badgers will take on Savannah State (3-7, 0-0 MEAC) on Thursday night at the Kohl Center to try and build on the lessons they took away from their rivalry game at the Fiserv Forum.

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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.