Three observations from Wisconsin's win vs. Indiana
The Wisconsin Badgers snapped their three-game losing streak in demonstrative fashion on Saturday afternoon, unseating the Indiana Hoosiers from the ranks of the unbeatens in an 84-64 win inside the Kohl Center.
Before the football program takes the field inside Lucas Oil Stadium, BadgerBlitz.com brings you three quick observations from how the men's basketball program locked down the Hoosiers.
1. Home cooking the right recipe for Wisconsin shooting, especially in the first half.
After losses where Wisconsin (5-4, 1-0 Big Ten) scored 52, 50 and 54 against Richmond, New Mexico and N.C. State, respectively, it scored 47 in the first 20 minutes alone against Indiana (8-1, 0-1 Big Ten). That included making 20 of 32 field goal attempts in the first half, good for 62.5 percent and 6-of-13 on shots from downtown.
After Indiana kicked off the scoring with two Aljami Durham free throws, a 19-2 Wisconsin run in a 5:16 span saw both Kobe King and Nate Reuvers contribute seven points each to set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
Overall, UW shot 53.6 percent (30 of 56) for the contest while three Badgers went over double figures in scoring. Indiana finished the conference tilt hitting 42 percent from the field (21 for 50) but connected on just 10 of 30 in the first 20 minutes.
2. Kobe King, Nate Reuvers explode for big game.
The third-year players went off in the Big Ten opener, combining for 44 of the team's 84 points on 18-of-27 shooting against the Hoosiers.
When King gets inside and attacks the rim, good things normally happen. On Saturday, he recorded a career-high 24 points that included hitting 66.7 percent of his attempts from the field (10 of 15) and made three of four from the charity stripe. Seventeen of those points came in the first half to help UW spark a 20-point halftime lead.
For that matter, Reuvers made eight of his 12 attempts on Saturday, but only three shots came from outside the arc (he connected on two of those). He finished with 20 points -- 11 in the first half -- while adding four rebounds, two blocks, two steals and zero turnovers.
3. Wisconsin protects the ball, adds on for assists
Piggybacking off the last part about Reuvers, Wisconsin clamped down on the turnovers on Saturday in committing just four on the day. In that dominant first half where UW carried a 47-27 lead into the locker room, Greg Gard's team coughed it up just once during that time.
On the flip side, Wisconsin as a team dished out 13 assists -- four coming from redshirt junior guard D'Mitrik Trice. In the last two games combined against N.C. State and New Mexico, the Badgers recorded 13 in that category.