Preview: Wisconsin travels to Providence for first road test

Wisconsin (1-1) vs. Providence (2-0)

Game: Tuesday, Nov. 14 inside the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, RI

Time: 5:00 P.M. CT

Watch: FS1

Listen: 1310 WIBA AM and 101.5 FM (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch on the call); stream online on iHeartRadio

Prediction: Providence 68, Wisconsin 64

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin -1.5

MADISON, Wis. — The Badgers will travel to Providence after losing to the now-No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers, 80-70.

Despite the loss, Wisconsin should feel some pride after putting up a fight against what could be their toughest regular season opponent.

They were able to score 70 against a great defense, but the offense still seemed disjointed. In the first half, A.J. Storr and Chucky Hepburn dominated, mostly running the offense from the perimeter.

Storr scored 12 in the first half on his way to a team-high 17 points. Hepburn followed up his team-high 20-point performance against Arkansas State with nine in the first half and 13 for the game against the Vols.

When the second half rolled around, Wisconsin suddenly reverted back to their offensive identity of years past. Storr didn’t get as many opportunities, and they instead leaned on Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl down low.

Wahl’s had a quiet two games, relative to what we expect. He’s scored just 18 points across two games, and 10 of those came in the second half against Tennessee.

The other big man, Crowl, scored 14 points, which was second on the team. He was able to take advantage of the size advantage over the Vols. He may see a lot of favorable matchups before the Big Ten season begins.

There seems to be an offensive identity conflict. Greg Gard wants to run his usual system, in which the offense runs through Wahl and Crowl down low. But he also wants to take advantage of Storr, the most talented scorer to come to Madison in a long time, and an improved Hepburn. I expect all four to take turns running the offense while they work on a more sound strategy.

Rounding out the starting lineup is Max Klesmit, who began as a defensive specialist, but has turned into a semi-reliable scorer. He scored 14 points against Arkansas State without missing a single shot, but cooled down against Tennessee.

They have extra complementary scoring in Connor Essegian, who’s now coming off the bench in place of Storr. He suffered an injury against Arkansas State, but came back and played 11 minutes against the Vols.

The contributions from secondary contributors like Klesmit and Essegian will ultimately determine Wisconsin’s ceiling.

Scoring is far from their biggest issue. It’s imperative for the Badgers to develop some sort of defensive identity while they’re still being tested by great teams. They just let Dalton Knecht go off for 24 points, while the Vols shot 50% as a team.

“They exploited some things consistently throughout the game,” Gard said after the Tennessee game. “We could never get a handle on ourselves defensively. It showed we have a lot of work to do defensively.”

“One of the benefits of playing this type of team this early is we get shown some things that maybe in some other games wouldn’t get exposed as easily,” Gard went on to say. “We’ll grow from this and be better because of it.”

The Badgers will now turn their attention toward a Providence team that’s not as good as Tennessee, but may provide a similarly unfamiliar challenge.

The Friars recently hired Kim English to replace Ed Cooley, who became the head coach of Georgetown in the offseason. English will inherit a mostly-new team, with only two remaining starters from last year’s Providence team.

The biggest on-court loss was Ed Croswell, the team’s second-leading scorer and rebounder.

They did, however, return one of the best players in the Big East in Bryce Hopkins. He was named to the Preseason All-Big East First Team after averaging 15.8 points and 8.5 rebounds in 2022-23, both team-leads. Hopkins hasn’t begun the year on the highest note, as he’s shooting just 27.3% from the field and 18.2% from long range so far.

The other returning starter is Devin Carter, the junior guard who averaged 13 points per game last year, and has scored 13 in each of the first two games.

The roster turnover has given some previously-unsung Friars a chance to shine.

Jayden Pierre was an important reserve last season, but saw his minutes dwindle as the year progressed. He’s now starting and even scored a team-high 16 points in their last game against Milwaukee.

Their star freshman has been Garwey Dual, a four-star recruit and the No. 32 player in the 2023 class, according to Rivals.com. He scored 14 against Milwaukee off the bench, which was second-highest on the team behind Pierre.

English came from George Mason and even brought three transfers with him. The most noteworthy is Josh Oduro, who led George Mason in scoring (15.6) and rebounding (7.9) last season, and will provide some nice size alongside Hopkins. He also brought in Davonte “Ticket” Gaines, who was more of a role player with George Mason, but has already earned a starting job in Providence.

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