Quick Hits: Wisconsin Struggles But Grinds Past Green Bay
MADISON, Wis. – After dealing with the nervousness and pageantry of a season opener and the excitement and uniqueness of playing at American Family Field, Wisconsin dealt with a new kind of challenge in facing a winless mid-major opponent on a late, snowy weeknight.
Fortunately for them, the Badgers weren’t playing the toughest competition on their schedule.
Wisconsin struggled sporadically offensively and defensively against a feistier Green Bay squad but managed to make enough plays to starve off the upset with a 56-45 victory in a sparsely populated Kohl Center.
Jordan Davis scored 11 points to lead Wisconsin (3-0), which won despite shooting just 30.2 percent from the floor. Tyler Wahl and Chucky Hepburn were a combined 4-for-25 and committed six of UW's 14 turnovers.
It’s the kind of performance that won’t work next week when the Badgers could face multiple Associated Press Top 25 teams in The Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament, but it was good enough against a Green Bay team that had lost its first two games by a combined 61 points.
Wisconsin rode its perimeter shooting early, hitting four three-pointers from four different players during a 12-2 run over a 3-minute, 27-second stretch late in the first half. Two of those makes came off offensive rebounds and were credited with an assist, helping UW swell its lead from three to 13. UW had a 12-1 in offensive rebounds in the first half and registered six assists.
It was the bright spot of a half where UW shot 29.4 percent from the floor but went 6-for-11 from the perimeter. With the spotty shooting from inside the perimeter, Wisconsin again relied on its defense to build a leap while battling through cold stretches. UW started 1-for-10 from the floor and was 5-for-20 through the first 11+ minutes, but the Badgers led because they held the Phoenix to 3-for-17 over the same stretch.
But after going 5-for-24 in the first half, the Phoenix scored seven buckets in the lane in the first eight minutes of the second half, cutting a 19-point lead down to six. Green Bay had a chance to cut the lead to one possession at the half’s midway point, but Cade Meyer (13 points) missed a contested layup and Davis hit a three-pointer on the other end. That play spurred a 7-2 run for UW, which kept the lead at two possessions for the remainder of the game.
Zae Blake scored 15 points to lead the Phoenix (0-3), which fell to 0-24 in Madison.
What it means: The game won’t have a significant boost to UW’s RPI, and certainly won’t chalk up any style points considering they were favored to win by 26, but the Badgers have started the season 3-0 for just the third time in Greg Gard’s tenure.
Star of the game: Max Klesmit had no points in 17 minutes at American Family Field Friday, but the junior finished with nine points, five rebounds, two steals, and an assist in a game-high 36 minutes. UW outscored the Phoenix by 12 points when he was on the court, second-best on the team behind Davis.
Stat of the game: Despite going against a lineup that didn’t extensively use any player over 6-foot-8, Wisconsin was 8-for-34 on two-point shots.
Reason to be Concerned: After shooting lights out in the season opener, Wisconsin shot 37.3 percent in a cavernous baseball stadium and carried that over into an even worse offensive performance in its home gym.
Don’t overlook: Wisconsin turned 15 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points, outscoring the Phoenix by 15 in the latter category.
What’s next: Wisconsin gets a break to regroup from the first eight days of the season and travel south to the Bahamas to participate in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament Nov.23-25. This will be the third time UW has played in the holiday tournament, winning the title in 2014-15 in a season that ended in an appearance in the national title game and losing to No.4 Virginia in the 2018 tournament title game.
UW will begin the tournament against No.21 Dayton (2-0), which boasts four players averaging double figures. The Flyers were the preseason pick to win the Atlantic-10 after returning all five starters from a team that went 24-11 overall and 14-4 in the conference. Dayton put three players on the preseason All-Conference team: DaRon Holmes II, Toumani Camera, and Malachi Smith.
UW has played Dayton just once – a victory in 1961 in the ECAC Holiday Festival in New York City – and is 11-8 all-time against the conference.
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