MILWAUKEE – The University of Wisconsin won game one with its offense. They doubled its win total with team defense, tapping into the identity of what the Badgers program is known for.

Overcoming some rough spells offensively throughout the night, the Badgers delivered a constant defensive performance that flustered and frustrated Stanford in a 60-50 victory at American Family Field Friday.

Putting three players in double figures and getting two players with career-best performances in either points or rebounds, the Badgers (2-0) have beaten two opponents picked to finish in the top half of their respective league in two different ways, brewing up some early-season confidence in the first week of a long season.

Here are my takeaways from the diamond.

The Cardinal shot 60.4 percent and scored 88 points in their opening win Monday. Despite a size advantage in the post, Stanford could not solve the pestering Badgers defense with guards collapsing on forwards and UW’s frontcourt altering shots around the rim.

Not only did Stanford score 38 points less than it did on Monday, but Wisconsin also held the visitors to 37.3 percent shooting, delivered 11 steals (more than UW had in a game last season), and blocked four shots. The Badgers also keep Stanford uncomfortable on the perimeter, holding the Cardinal to 1-for-16 from three-point range to limit them to .781 points per possession.

“They understand what we need to be good at and what’s non-negotiable,” said Wisconsin coach Greg Gard. “Offense comes and goes. We sat there earlier this week when we banged in 12 threes. We said we can’t always depend on that, but we can depend on our ability to guard, rebound, take care of the basketball. Those are non-negotiable.

“This group knows that our strength is in our toughness and our grittiness. That’s embedded in the fiber of our program. To stray from that would be foolish.”

The dropoff was evident from graduate transfer Michael Jones. After lighting up Pacific with 31 points (nine FGs, 3 FGs, 10 FTs), Jones got all he could handle from Wisconsin junior Jordan Davis. Hounded by Davis throughout, Jones managed only nine points (3-for-7) and missed both three-point attempts.

“I think he’s a great player,” Jones said of Davis. “They did a good job of disrupting our offense early on … They were clogging up our driving lanes a lot, making it difficult to kick out.”

Davis supplemented his defense with a career-high 13 points, including cleaning up a Tyler Wahl three-point play with an offensive rebound/putback that put the Badgers up by 10 with 4:21 remaining.

“He came out confident (and) ready to go,” Wahl said of Davis. “Jordan is a great player. We see it in practice all the time. We see spurts of it in games.”

Defensively is where Wisconsin is going to hang its hat this season, so the fact the Badgers beat a quality opponent by shutting down some of Stanford’s better weapons is an encouraging building block.

Strong shooting from beyond the arc was on display for the Badgers Monday night, as seven different players hit 3-point field goals and UW shot 46.2 percent (12-for-26) from distance. It was a different story with the Badgers going 5-for-20 from beyond the arc and shooting 37.3 percent, their lowest in a win since last January.

UW’s first three makes were around the rim, but Stanford clogging the lane when it could set its defense forced the Badgers to hit jump shots. UW had eight straight misses that elapsed four minutes, including some unsightly airballs and others that solely drew backboard. The Badgers had two three-minute droughts without field goals in the second half and one stretch where it only scored one point in 6:23.

“Sometimes the ball is not going to go in, that’s why we have to rely on our defense,” said Wahl, who had a game-high 17 points. “That’s something the coaches have really talked about and something that we really buy into this year. At Wisconsin, we really buy into the defense. With this group of guys, I feel we have good team defense. We are always relying on each other to pick each other up.”

It wasn’t just the men who had issues shooting, either, as the Kansas State and Wisconsin women shot a combined 16-for-59 from the perimeter in the event’s first game.

Steven Crowl admitted he played last season underweight and was outmuscled at times against older, stronger forwards he guarded. Increasing his weight by 10+ pounds to help match the physicalness in the post and being a year more experience to recognize when to attack and when to lay back, Crowl is starting to show his development as a low-post player.

In a first half where offense was at a premium for both teams, Crowl had seven points, six rebounds, two assists, one block, no turnovers, and no fouls in 16 minutes.

“He’s got to continue to play through some of the fatigue and that started to show a little bit in the second half,” Gard said, as Crowl finished with nine points, a career-high 11 rebounds, three blocks, and four fouls. “Play through that, still trust the fundamental things we talk about, staying down, keep your feet on the floor, maintain contact, all the things we talk about all the time … It’s good for Steve to have that experience.”

Even though Carter Gilmore and Chris Hodges got some minutes rotating into the frontcourt, the Badgers will be heavily reliant on Crowl to pair with Wahl to provide height and length underneath the basket. Crowl can’t do that when he’s sitting for long stretches with foul trouble, so logging 35 minutes (second most on the team) and finishing a team-best +14 in the plus/minus is an encouraging first step.

Wisconsin was picked to finish 10th in last year’s media poll and won a share of the Big Ten. Obviously, the group of media who cover the Big Ten didn’t think much of the Badgers this year without Johnny Davis carrying the load and collectively picked the team to finish ninth. It’s two games in, and a lot can happen with injuries, slumps, etc., but it seems pretty obvious that this group will finish way higher than that based on their current trajectory.

“A lot of things we can learn from this game, getting challenged like this early in the season with a younger team is going to be good for us,” Gard said. “There are so many things we can learn from the film as we go through it over the weekend. It wasn’t always pretty, but this group has a toughness to them as we continue to develop as we go through the early part of the season.”

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