Wisconsin Confident That Johnny Davis's Shooting Touch Will Return
MADISON, Wis. – As writers and organizations heap praise and individual awards on him, sophomore Johnny Davis displays a humble confidence. It’s a refreshing honesty when he says he knew he was good enough to win such accolades as Big Ten Player of the Year but, in the same breath, heaps praise on his teammates who helped him get there.
Modesty aside, there’s no question that Davis is the star of the show is for the Badgers, which is why he is pretty much given free rein to create, score, and carry the offense.
It’s a process that has worked remarkably well so far for the University of Wisconsin, so head coach Greg Gard isn’t planning on shaking things up now after Davis enters Friday’s NCAA Tournament opener against No.14 Colgate after one of his worst shooting performances of the season.
“You can’t micromanage shots,” Gard said. “Because if you do that … he's gone 10-19 for us.”
Davis finished 3-for-19 in the 68-63 loss to Michigan State in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, only the second time this season he’s been held under 20 percent shooting in a game. Part of the problem was Davis forcing his offense, driving into traffic, and taking contested shots instead of finding the open shooter.
He attributed part of his poor play to limited practice time in the week leading up to the conference tournament after suffering a mild ankle sprain against Nebraska.
It’s the third time this season Davis has either missed a game or left a game with an injury. Returning a week after missing Wisconsin’s loss to Providence, Davis scored 21 points (8-for-18) and had nine rebounds in a victory over Texas A&M, a game in which the Badgers trailed by 16 points after eight minutes.
Davis missed UW’s nonconference win over Nicholls because of the flu and went two weeks between games when the Badgers’ game against George Mason was canceled due to COVID. When he returned, he scored 20 points on 22 shots with 11 rebounds in a narrow win over Illinois State.
With the exception of Friday, Davis has been locked in with his shot down the stretch of the season. In Wisconsin’s final eight regular-season games, Davis was 52 of 97 (53.6 percent). Against Nebraska, he was 4-for-4 before missing the final 17+ minutes with the ankle injury.
After shooting 40.9 percent and averaging 6.7 points off the bench in conference play last season, Davis shot 45.5 percent and scored 19.9 points per game as a full-time starter in 20 Big Ten games.
On Tuesday, he was named a first-team All-American, joining Iowa guard Keegan Murray, Illinois center Kofi Cockburn, Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji, and Kentucky center Oscar Tshiebwe, the latter who some pundits are projecting to beat out Davis for national player of the year.
Davis’s offense has carried Wisconsin to some high-profile wins, and his presence alone on the court has opened opportunities for his teammates to have career years.
The two best examples of that are of senior Brad Davison and junior forward Tyler Wahl. Davison is averaging a career-high 14.5 points per game. Wahl is the same way with his scoring averaging jumping 6.2 points per game to 11.4. Both players earned all-conference honors for the first time (Davison on the second-team, Wahl an honorable mention).
“He just gets the game so well,” Wahl said of Davis. “He’s a very smart basketball player, and honestly, he makes everyone around him better. He might not get the assists, but he does make some good passes. He might not necessarily get it in the box score, but he gets it to lead to someone else because all eyes are on him in the middle of the game.”
That will be the test for Colgate (23-11) when the Raiders try to spring the upset on the Badgers in their own backyard in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. Colgate didn’t face an NCAA Tournament or Top 25 team this season. Their best win was a 100-85 victory at Syracuse in early November, but the Raiders struggled with guard Buddy Boeheim. The first-team All-ACC selection averaged 19.2 points per game and finished with 19 points on 7-for-16 shooting.
Davis will likely be priority one on Colgate’s scouting report, which allows the opportunity to better facilitate and have his teammates help carry the burden.
“I think he knows for himself that he can’t do it just by himself,” Wahl said. “He’s been able to lean on us throughout the year. That’s what led to our success throughout the season.”
_________________________________________________
*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den
*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel
*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)
*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @JakeKoco, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45
*Like us on Facebook