Takeaways from Wisconsin's 69-58 Win Over Texas A&M

Had the Maui Jim Maui Invitational utilized 15-minute halves, the University of Wisconsin would have needed to do some serious soul searching in the locker room.

Down 16 points in what seemed like a blink of an eye, the Badgers were able to settle down, find a rhythm on the defensive end that sparked their offense, and methodically pick apart Texas A&M for a 69-58 victory at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas.

The usual suspects helped Wisconsin (3-1) go on a sustained scoring run that spanned both halves. After missing last Monday’s game with a lower-body injury, Johnny Davis returned to score a career-high 21 points, while senior Brad Davison (17) and sophomore Steven Crowl (10) reached double figures to advances the Badgers to the semifinals. UW will take on No.12 Houston (4-0) tomorrow afternoon (4 p.m. CT/ESPN).

“I saw the same fight that I saw in the Providence game,” Davis said. “We were down by 16 in the first half and the way these guys battle back defensively, even when our shots weren’t falling, just really proud of how we all played.”

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

Wisconsin’s best offense is its defense, and its defense was solid through three games with teams averaging only 51.7 points, 35.1 percent shooting, and 27.1 percent perimeter shooting. Imagine their surprise when the Aggies took a page out of Wisconsin’s playbook and shoved it right down their throats.

The Aggies smothered Wisconsin with ball pressure, post pressure, and backcourt pressure. That led to quick shots by UW’s players to try and beat the defense. With those shots missing, and the Badgers' inability to rebound, the Aggies were able to get out and push the tempo.

The result was a nightmarish 16-4 start for the Aggies, who started 5-for-6 and had an assist attached to each of those baskets. UW was outrebounded 6-1, and the pushed tempo allowed for six transition points. Crowl was smothered with double teams in the low post, forcing him to make quick decisions with the ball that a sophomore/first-year starter will usually struggle with. The result of that mess was the Aggies making eight of their first 10 shots.

UW also struggled with ball screens and rotations, allowing the Aggies to move quickly and create open 3-point looks. At the under-8 timeout, Texas A&M had more made 3-point field goals (7) than Wisconsin had total makes. At the under-8 timeout, Texas A&M had more made 3-point field goals (7) than Wisconsin had total makes.

“They had their barrage early, most of it through a scattered floor,” head coach Greg Gard said. “We weren’t getting back for a variety of reasons, and credit to them for taking advantage of that. We figured that out, fortunately fast enough, where we were able to collect ourselves with enough time left that we could get back to doing what we needed to do.”

The Badgers didn’t quit when they trailed by 11 at halftime against Providence and didn’t fold when they were down 16 eight minutes into the game. UW closed the half on a 15-1 run and led 35-34 at halftime because the Badgers got into a groove defensively.

UW forced seven turnovers in the final six minutes of the first half, drawing offensive fouls off ball screens, travels, and a shot-clock violation. The Aggies’ miscues held them without a field goal over the last 7:10.

“I don’t know if we really could have matched up with that team athletically, in some cases physically,” Davis said, “but once we stopped giving them transition offense opportunities, that’s when we started to play our game.”

Most of the damage was done by Davison (8 points) and Davis (5), but the Badgers settled into their half-court offense down the stretch. The Badgers shot 6-for-9 from the floor (66.7 percent) and rebounded two of those misses to convert four second-chance points. In the first 15 minutes of the half, UW was 6-for-21 with four offensive rebounds and two second-chance points.

“We needed that momentum to close out the half, and I think it carried over into the second half to start because we jumped on them early,” Davis said. “The shots we hit at the end of the first half and the defense that we had is really what got us our momentum and confidence.”

Buzz Williams has a young squad, too, having lost eight players to transfers last season. As Davis alluded to, the second half was Wisconsin’s turn to take advantage of some inexperience.

After managing just 12 points in the paint, Wisconsin was able to break through against the Aggies' smaller lineup and score 10 points in the lane over the first 5:17 of the second half. That production and touches in the post opened looks from the outside, a combination that allowed UW to start the second half on a 14-2 run.

When Crowl splashed a 3-pointer off an offensive rebound, the Badgers were 10-for-18 shooting in the second half, averaging 1.4 points per possession, and combined with the late first-half run, were on a 51-19 run over 24 minutes, 1 second. After trailing by as many as 16 points, UW led by as many as 16 points in the second half and never let the lead dip below three possessions the final 15:50.

“I sensed with a lot of our guys, it’s the first experience that we had a little bit of a deer-in-a-headlight look," Gard said. "They’ve watched Maui – even though we’re not in Maui – on TV growing up, so I thought it took a little bit for some of our guys to settle in, calm down and understand it’s still just basketball. We need to try to do the things we’ve been practicing, try to play to our identity. When we do that, good things happen.”

Although UW shot 39.7 percent for the game, the Badgers dominated the critical stat categories. UW forced 16 turnovers that led to a 22-11 edge in points off miscues. The Badgers were better on the glass (36-29) and on the offensive boards (11-5), leading to a 15-5 edge in second-chance points.

“We really can get up into teams and suffocate them offensively, not allowing them to get too many good looks at the basket,” Davis said. “That’s part of our identity.”

Last Monday, foul trouble by centers Crowl and Chris Vogt allowed Providence to outmuscle the Badgers’ reserves in the low post last week to build an insurmountable 11-point halftime lead. That factoid made it important the two stay on the floor for the Aggies, who entered averaging 13.5 offensive rebounds per game and had a brut at forward in 6-8, 243-pound sophomore Henry Coleman.

Coleman led the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and was shooting 57.1 percent, but he finished the game with more fouls (five) than made field goals (three) in 19 minutes with Crowl, Carter Gilmore, and Tyler Wahl guarding him.

“Getting him in the foul is part of s plan, and also keep the ball out of his hands,” Gard said. “He’s a really good player, so a combination of those things. The best defense is to put him on the bench, which we were able to do in the first half. It was a team effort.”

Without Davis in the lineup last Monday because of a leg injury, Wisconsin shot just 32.8 percent overall, 18.5 percent from 3-point range, and had only two players score more than five points. Davis was listed as available more than an hour before tip and delivered with a career-high in scoring on 18 shots and a game-high nine rebounds.

Crowl settled in with six of his 10 points after halftime (he finished with a team-best plus-15 ratio in the final 20 minutes), but Davison was the assassin in the first half with 14 points, helping resurrect Wisconsin down the stretch in the first half.

“That’s what jumpstarted our momentum at the end of the first half and the start of the second,” Davis said of Davison. “He was making shots, brought us back into the game, gave us more life. It was really huge.”

While guard Chucky Hepburn (seven) and Wahl (six) followed in scoring, the Badgers got good minutes from Jordan Davis. Earning more opportunities with his play, Jordan Davis checked in at the 12:41 mark and promptly registered a steal, and later added a 3-point shot. Athletic enough to be a good defender, Davis had four rebounds in five minutes in the second half.

“It was great to be out there playing with my twin brother,” Johnny Davis said. “He contributed a lot … He got in, did what he needed to do.”

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