Takeaways from Wisconsin's 65-63 Win Over No.12 Houston

The Vegas sportsbook likely didn’t take many big bets on the University of Wisconsin’s young roster to win the prestigious Maui Invitational, not with a young roster coming off a particularly ugly offensive. Wednesday afternoon, the Badgers will try to make the longshot pay off big.

Thanks largely to another career performance from sophomore Johnny Davis and he and his teammates dominating the first half on both ends of the floor, the Badgers hung on to beat No.12 Houston, 65-63, in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas.

The Badgers (4-1) delivered the dominant 20 minutes in the opening half and then had to hang on for dear life as Houston (4-1), a Final Four team a year ago with some different pieces, made a charge to cut the game to a single possession multiple times in the waning minutes.

But when the Cougars didn’t get a shot off with a chance to win or force overtime, the Badgers celebrated their first victory over a ranked opponent in nearly 11 months at midcourt.

Here are my five takeaways from the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

In arguably the most famous nonconference basketball tournament in the sport, Davis is having his “Hello, World” moment. After dazzling Monday in his first game back off injury, scoring a career-high 21 points and nine rebounds in the comeback over Texas A&M, Davis outdid himself with 30 points.

Scoring 18 points in the first half to help the Badgers build a 20-point lead, Davis was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the second half and delivered a huge steal and dunk to put the Badgers up 59-52 with 4:17 left.

“I was open, never turn down an open shot,” Davis said. “My teammates did a great job of finding me when I was open.”

It’s obvious that Davis has been a different player this season, playing with more confidence, swagger, and bravado than he did last year. That growth can be tied to winning a gold medal with Team USA’s U19 over the summer, proving to him that he can play and belongs at that level. Through four games, Davis has delivered every time out, and now the country is starting to find out that UW is way better than the 10th-best team in the Big Ten when Davis is on the floor.

Tyler Wahl had issues last season trusting his shot and when he did shoot, the majority of the attempts were from the mid-range and beyond. If that was the same case this season, the Badgers are in the third-place game. Wahl was held scoreless in the first half but came on strong during four minutes of the second half where he scored his nine points on four buckets in the low post.

He scored backing down his defender with a left-handed layup, hit a jumper as the double team closed in on him, and nailed a fadeaway near the baseline as the shot clock expired. His other big bucket came off a feed from Davis, who had driven into the lane and collapsed the defense. Wahl finished through contact and converted a 3-point play.

During Houston’s 25-11 run to start the second half, Wahl’s production prevented the Cougars from fully taking over the game.

“He’s walked into that upperclassmen mode right now,” head coach Greg Gard said. “He knows when we need him, he’s got to be able to step up, and I thought he did that. He was really good in the paint. He plays so hard. The effort and to be able to knock down key shots were needed to try and keep that lead, knowing they were making a charge against us.”

Wahl actually shot the ball on six straight possessions (he missed 3-pointers on the other two), a sign that his timidness is a thing of the past.

In Monday’s quarterfinal, Wisconsin was down 16-4 shortly into the game and trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half. In the game that followed, Houston scored the first 17 points against Butler. What a difference a day makes.

UW scored the first 13 points of the game, delivering crisp ball movement that Davis (11 points, 3-for-3 on 3-pointers) was the benefactor from. UW led 40-20 at halftime, shooting 57.1 percent from the field while holding the Cougars to 25.9 percent. The Badgers hit 7 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes (one fewer than they hit against Texas A&M the game before) and had a 10-to-3 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Juxtapose to the second half when Wisconsin shot nearly 24 percentage points worse, committed twice as many turnovers (six), and allowed Houston to shoot 53.9 percent (33 percentage points higher than the first). All the 25 points Wisconsin scored in the first half were from Davis (12), Wahl (9), and Brad Davison (4) against a Houston team that ranks fifth in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom.

That’s why Gard was happy exactly how the game played out, especially considering his team got the desired result.

“We knew Houston was going to counter back,” Gard said. “We knew they’re too good to just continue not to do some things well. Part of it was how we played, but we got challenged in the second half.

“I think going through these experiences, understanding what works really well, what makes us good and then when we get away from it, where we get away from our identity, how things can go off the track. Then you have to catch yourself and make plays. Communication, growing together, I can talk about it, but these guys have to experience it. They experienced some of both. This is all part of this journey of this team growing and maturing in front of us.”

One of the best guards Wisconsin has seen through its five games, Marcus Sasser was a key piece on Houston’s Final Four run last season and is a focal point on the Cougars’ 2021 squad (a team-best 19.8 ppg). It was evident that he was a key piece of Wisconsin’s defensive scouting report, too.

Sasser was invisible most of the night, finishing with 11 points on 4-for-12 shooting with four turnovers. He had a chance to tie it with 47 seconds left, but his attempt clanked off the rim and allowed Davis to hit two free throws, pushing the lead to 65-60.

Wisconsin is allowing just 55.2 points per game and is 10th in the nation defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com. Against KenPom’s 14th most efficient offense, UW held the Cougars to 1.0 point per possession.

“This is exactly what I expected,” Davis said. “I’d seen the guys, all the hard work they put in. The talent we have on this team. All of this is expected.”

Chris Vogt had to sit the last 10+ minutes of the first half after picking up his second foul and Steven Crowl took the seat next to him with 5:15 remaining when he picked up his second. That forced the Badgers to put Ben Carlson at the five. When UW did that last week against Providence, the Friars attacked the low post relentlessly and took control of the game. On Tuesday, not so much.

Looking more composed in the moment, Carlson delivered a jumper, two rebounds, and two assists, the final one splitting a double team to hit Davis as he made a perfect cut to the basket.

“He can provide a great presence in the lane, especially defensively,” Davis said of Carlson. “Offensively he had that dunk and I think that’s really going to give him a lot of confidence and boost him going forward.”

With Crowl on the bench, the Badgers closed the first half on a 14-8 run that included Houston making no field goals over the last 3:42.

“We need everybody,” Gard said. “That’s not a cliché. This group is going to need all hands on deck because of a variety of reasons. Ben, once he settled in, I thought he was too rushed yesterday, trying to play too fast, I thought he responded really well today when we needed him to. It was big in that first half.”

“Every chance they get to gather some experience under their belt is beneficial. We’re going to be in a lot of these games I’m sure over the course of the season. We need to continue to learn and improve as we move through them.”