MADISON - The Badgers knew they needed to improve from downtown.

A season ago, they shot just 31% from beyond the arc as a team. Freshman point guard Chucky Hepburn led the team from deep, shooting at a 34.8% clip. But he played more of a facilitator role, getting the ball to top scorers Brad Davidson (who had an almost identical percentage from three) and Johnny Davis, who did most of his damage in two-point range.

Now, the onus is on Hepburn to make shots and create points for himself. He got off to a good start Monday, dropping 14 points while going 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. One of those threes came seconds before the first half buzzer, from deep on the wing. Tyler Wahl grabbed a rebound with six seconds left, hustled up the court, and dumped it off to Hepburn to set up the shot.

“I saw him. He called for the outlet, but I didn’t pass to him,” Wahl joked. “I was like, ‘oh, lemme see what I can do.’ But then I got cut off and he was right there.”

“I was chilling right behind him,” Hepburn added. “I peeped him with his eyes looking at me, so I was like, yeah I’m about to get this ball and knock it down.”

The dramatic three before the buzzer was emblematic of what Wisconsin had been doing all game. In the first half, they shot 60% (9-of-15) from downtown.

The three-point party started early. Steven Crowl opened the scoring for the Badgers by draining a three from the wing. That seemed to set the scene for what was a scorching night from deep.

“We kinda just took what they gave us right away,” Max Klesmit said. “They gave Steve the three, he took it and made it. I think that did help set the tone right away, to hit one of those right off the bat, but everybody did a good job tonight contributing in that area of the game.”

Crowl’s three point shot is a massive plus for the Badgers offensively. He’s a legitimate shooter from deep, and he finished the night with 12 points, including 2-of-4 from three point land. When Crowl is hitting his shots, he opens up so much space on the court.

Head coach Greg Guard was pleased with the performance from three, but was hesitant to deem it the identity of this team. He doesn’t want his team, who had seven players make a three and 10 player attempt one, to become overly dependent on it.

“Is that gonna be a weapon for this team? Yes. Do I think this team can shoot threes better? Yes. Do I wanna completely rely on it all the time? No. That’s why getting to the foul line, playing inside out, taking care of the ball, all those things (are important as well),” Guard said.

“Even the best three point shooting teams go through nights where they struggle a little bit. So I don’t wanna be solely dependent on it, but I think with this group, with how they're made up, it can be something we’re gonna have to use,” he continued. “We shot 12-of-26 tonight because we took the right ones.”

Guard’s main focus will always be fundamental basketball, but he has to like what this team has shown him as far as shooting capability. He also has to like how well his team defended the three on the other end.

South Dakota has a penchant for shooting threes. Kruz Perrott-Hunt shot 39.2% last season from deep. He dropped 21 on the Badgers, but didn’t make a three. He only attempted two shots from long range. Mason Archambault shot 39.4% from three last season. He missed all three of his three-point shots.

“I thought we did a really good job of taking away threes, specifically early,” Guard noted. “That was a whole game plan, of not even letting them get threes off, trying to minimize the attempts, knowing that they shot it well and they shot a lot of them.”

Perrott-Hunt credits his lack of scoring from deep to the Badgers’ tenacious defense.

“Credit to them, they did a good job of mixing it up,” he said. “When I started getting going, they started pulling in a little more, and caused a little more turnovers.”

By lighting it up from beyond the arc and suffocating a potent three-point offense, the Badgers started the season off with a bang. It was a promising performance, one that portends splashy shooting and balanced basketball with much of the roster getting involved. Despite the absolute barrage of three-pointers, Hepburn sees room for improvement:

“We’re still able to get better threes than that, which means we’re gonna knock down a lot more this season. I think we’re right where we want to be.”

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