Preview: Wisconsin vs. Saint Mary's in the Maui Invitational Championship

Wisconsin (4-1, 0-0) vs Saint Marys (6-0, 0-0)

Game: Tuesday, Nov. 24 inside the Michelob Ultra Arena

Time: 4:00 PM (CT)

Watch: ESPN

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

Prediction: Wisconsin 67, Saint Mary's 60

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Following an impressive win over Houston, Wisconsin is set to meet Saint Mary's in the Maui Invitational title game on Wednesday afternoon.

The theme of the season will be the continued maturation and growth of this young Badgers squad. Building up a 20-point halftime lead and almost letting it slip away against a talented Houston team on Tuesday was a great early test, according to head coach Greg Gard.

"I think this team is growing up right before our eyes and it’s been fun to watch," Gard said following the win. "Looking back I’m kind of happy this did happen like this so we can learn how to finish a game, how to be better down the stretch. I think it’s just a great experience for these guys to go through this."

“That's a heck of an education for a couple freshmen,” Gard said of Lorne Bowman and Chucky Hepburn, who were asked to defend Marcus Sasser and Kyler Edwards. “To play that type of experience against this type of team with the physicality and athleticism and speed, it can only help them. There were mistakes made. You can live with the mistakes. You just learn from them.”

The player of the game - and, really, the tournament - has been sophomore Jonathan Davis, who has taken a leap after he spent his summer with USA basketball's U19 team. Davis erupted for a career-high 30 points, just one day after setting a career-high clip of 21 against Texas A&M.

Davis was able to consistently get to his mid-range pull up but was also the beneficiary of ball movement for open threes. On the defensive end, Davis made his presence felt with four steals and a pair of blocks. His dynamic playmaking ability iced the game for UW as well, as it struggled to close late. The Wisconsin native went on to score 10 of the Badgers' final 12 points.

"I think the one thing about Johnny, he’s always said he doesn’t care about the individual things," Gard said. "We talked through the offseason, this summer, last spring, he said 'coach, all I want to do is win. I don’t care what comes with the individual things, I just want to make us the best team we can be,' and I think he’s consumed in the right things that way. He’s taken the role that we envisioned he would take this year."

For fans of Wisconsin's methodical pace in its swing offense and attention to the defensive end, they're in for a treat Wednesday afternoon. Saint Mary's runs a similar offense in that it likes to generate looks by running its action through the post. The Gaels are an experienced group who prefer slow things down and don't run much in transition.

Randy Bennett's current rotation is just six or seven deep. Their leading scorer, Dan Fotu, is a big who comes off the bench and can stretch the floor. Fotu paced the Gaels in their win over Oregon with 16 points. Tommy Kuhse runs the offense for Saint Mary's and has a knack for getting to the basket, setting up another solid challenge Hepburn.

The championship game is just the fourth all-time meeting between the two schools with the Gaels leading the series, 2-1, including a 65-63 overtime win in their most recent meeting in 2019.

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