Five observations from Wisconsin's win over McNeese State

MADISON -- After a close first half, the Wisconsin Badgers asserted themselves with some hot shooting in an 83-63 win over McNeese State on Wednesday night inside the Kohl Center.

BadgerBlitz.com breaks down five observations from the non-conference win.

This really was the difference in the game, as the team showed the ability to bounce back from a close first half that was marred by a cold start on the offensive end. In the first half, Wisconsin connected on just three of 13 attempts (23.1 percent) from beyond the arc. In the final 20 minutes, Greg Gard's squad exploded to the tune of seven of 15 from three-point land. Overall, the team made a season-high 10 from downtown.

At one stretch in the second half, Wisconsin made 10 straight shots from the field and finished that final period shooting 17 of 28 from the field (60.7 percent). Three Badgers -- Brevin Pritzl, Aleem Ford and Brad Davison -- all scored in double digits in that frame and helped UW outscore McNeese State 46-29 to pull away.

The Cowboys shot themselves in the spurs on Wednesday night by committing 18 turnovers, with 11 of those coming in the second half. The Badgers coughed it up just nine times in the game while capitalizing off of those mistakes by a 30-2 margin on the scoreboard.

For that matter, UW created 10 steals and dished out 19 assists in the home victory. Though he did not score a point, guard Trevor Anderson led the team in the latter category with four while D'Mitrik Trice and Tyler Wahl each contributed three each.

Redshirt junior forward Aleem Ford picked up three fouls before halftime, and then with 13:52 remaining in the game, junior Nate Reuvers picked up his fourth.

With Micah Potter still unable to play and awaiting the NCAA telephone hearing for his appeal, Wisconsin could have been in major trouble on both ends of the court. Forward Sha'Markus Kennedy (20 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 8-of-10 from free throw line) created problems in the paint and at the free throw line, especially in the first half where he put up 18.

However, from the 14:53 to 7:42 mark of the second half, Wisconsin went on a 17-3 run to open the floodgates and lock down what became a comfortable win. Davison and Ford each scored five points in that stretch.

For what it's worth, Ford did not commit a foul in the second half as well.

King missed Wednesday's game due to a lower left leg injury suffered in practice on Monday, and with Reuvers just playing 20:29 due to foul trouble, a few Badgers needed to step up.

Davison tallied a season-high 24 points on 7-of-8 shooting, 3-of-4 from three-point range and hit all seven of his free throw attempts. That included draining a last second shot before halftime to extend Wisconsin's lead to three entering intermission.

I mentioned Ford avoiding foul trouble, but he also contributed a career-high 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and 2-of-4 from three-point range. Pritzl finished with 13 points in over 21 minutes of play, and walk-on Walt McGrory contributed a career-high nine points.

This was the first game action of the season for McGrory, who scored all of six points last season. He also played a career-high 24 minutes.

The true freshman remained poised and helped Wisconsin overcome the foul trouble of Reuvers during the game. Though he scored just three points, Wahl grabbed three rebounds and gave out three assists in over 26 minutes of play. He also pulled down a couple of steals and finished with a plus/minus rating of plus-23, the highest of any Badger on the evening in the latter category.

Now in three games, Wahl is averaging 16 minutes of play heading into the Sunday in-state matchup with Marquette. The stat sheets will not necessarily show the production or contributions, but as head coach Greg Gard said after the game, the Minnesota native is "a player."