STAT PACK: Wisconsin Survives Scare to Beat Nicholls

MADISON, Wis. – After an arduous eight-game stretch against Power Five, Big East, Big Ten, ranked, and NCAA Tournament quality competition, the University of Wisconsin kicked off a stretch against three mid-major opponents that were designed to pad the resume and build some confidence in a young roster.

Nicholls either didn’t get the memo or didn’t care enough to follow the usual script.

The reigning regular-season champions of the Southland Conference led for over 26 consecutive minutes, putting a good scare into the Badgers before the hosts scratched out enough defensive stops late for a 71-68 victory at the Kohl Center.

BadgerNation takes a closer look at the game in the Stat Pack.

- Having dealt with a limited roster since the second game of the season, Wisconsin had its biggest absence with guard Johnny Davis being unavailable due to a non-COVID illness. Guard Jahcobi Neath – who missed last Wednesday’s game with an illness – started in place of Davis, who leads UW in scoring, rebounds, assists, and steals.

- Without Davis, Wisconsin was led in scoring by Brad Davison 19 points for the third time this season. Tyler Wahl added 12 points, and Chris Vogt tied his season-high with nine.

- Other UW scorers include Chucky Hepburn and Neath (9), Steven Crowl 5, Lorne Bowman 4, and Ben Carlson 4.

- Neath and Vogt both had seven rebounds, as UW outrebounded Nicholls, 21-16, in the second half. UW had 10 offensive rebounds, but the Badgers had six in the second half that turned into eight second-chance points. The Colonels won the overall board battle, 36-33, and outscored UW, 40-32, in the paint, but the Badgers had a 13-2 edge in second-chance points.

- Wisconsin shot 43.6 percent but went 54.2 percent in the second half.

- Ty Gordon led all scorers with 26 points for Nicholls, which shot 48.4 percent from the field.

- Without their offensive heartbeat, Wisconsin’s start was sloppy. The Badgers started just 2-for-13, including a stretch where they missed nine of 10 shots.

- Nicholls had no trouble generating offense. The Colonels had seven players score in the first nine minutes of the game to shoot 64.3 percent from the floor, building a 19-13 lead.

- UW’s 10-4 run brought the deficit down to 23-22 with 7:54 remaining in the first half, but the Badgers came up empty on their next three possessions to allow Nicholls to build the lead back to eight.

- Closing the half on a 7-2 run, sparked in part by a pair of UW turnovers, Nicholls led 37-28 at halftime and shot 56.7 percent in the first half.

- UW shot 35.5 percent in the opening half (11-for-31) and went just 4-for-15 from 3-point range.

- Crowl opened the second half with a hook shot in the paint, but the Badgers promptly lost Pierce Spencer on the 3-point line and gave up another driving layup by Gordon. UW’s 12-point deficit was the largest in the game.

- Davison injected some life into a muted Kohl Center by hitting a pair of free throws and then hitting a 3-pointer off a screen, cutting the lead to 46-42 with 14:23 left, which forced Nicholls to call a timeout.

- Forcing three fouls in 2:03, Wisconsin got to the bonus with 12:59 remaining. Lorne Bowman missed the front-end of the bonus, but Vogt worked between two defenders to rebound the ball and get fouled on the putback.

- Doubling down on the possession, Vogt missed the free throw, Neath corralled the rebound, missed his shot, Vogt rebound that missed, and finished in the paint to tie the score.

- When Carlson made a second-chance layup, the Badgers led for the first time in over 26 minutes of game time, dating back to the opening minute of the first half.

- Nicholls had four chances over the next 3+ minutes to tie or retake the lead, only to see shots that fell in the first half fall off the rim. Those misses loomed larger when Vogt delivered a thunderous two-hand slam in the low block off a fed from Neath, drew a foul, and hit the free throw with 4:48 remaining to put UW up 60-55.

- UW was far from consistent with its free throws, finishing 17-27, but Davison’s two makes gave UW its largest lead at 64-57 with 3:26 remaining. Nicholls went just 3-for-8 from the line.

- Nicholls scored on four straight possessions following Davison’s free throws, bringing the score to 68-65 with 34.1 seconds remaining, but the Badgers successfully beat the full-court press and Neath made both free throws.

- After Gordon hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two, Davison was fouled, made the first, and missed the second. UW had a foul to give and Davison used it with 5.9 remaining.

-Gordon missed a contested 3-pointer with Carter Gilmore in his face defending along the baseline, but Davison committed his fifth foul on Manny Littles’ offensive rebound. With 1.5 seconds left, Littles missed the first, missed the second, and UW got the rebound to end the game.

- Due to semester exams, Wisconsin won’t play again until December 23 against Morgan State. The tip from the Kohl Center is scheduled for 6 p.m. and televised on the Big Ten Network.

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