Sour taste remains
Early struggles in ’15 still resonate
Nigel Hayes doesn’t recall any important numbers from Wisconsin’s loss to Marquette last season at the Kohl Center.
Those include the margin of defeat (two points) or the Golden Eagles’ significant edges in points in the paint (3616), fast-break points (17-2) and bench points (15-0).
All the loquacious senior forward knows is this:
“We just weren’t a good team, plain and simple . ... We were a bad team early in the season. Anyone can tell you that. Anyone will tell you that.
“We’ll tell you that ourselves. We’ve improved a little bit, we think. So we’ll go out and try it again this year.”
That opportunity comes when No. 17 UW (8-2) meets Marquette (7-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Like Hayes, senior guard Bronson Koenig recalls a team in crisis when UW hosted
Marquette in the 11th game last season. The two-point loss came three days after UW blew a double-digit second-half lead and suffered a 68-67 loss to UW-Milwaukee.
“We were pretty disorganized,” said Koenig, who hit just 3 of 11 shots in the loss to Marquette. “We didn’t have an identity. It was early.
“I think we held the ball a lot. We did a lot of one-on-one. We didn’t move the ball. I think we are going to be much better off this time.”
The numbers support Koenig’s assertion.
UW through 10 games last season was shooting 32.2% from three-point range and 41.5% overall.
UW through 10 games this season is shooting 34.4% from three-point range and 47.8% overall.
The defensive numbers also are improved.
UW’s first 10 foes last season shot 38.7% from three-point range and 42.5% overall. This season, those numbers are 34.3% and 40.1%.
Marquette shot 52.2% in the 57-55 victory. UW shot just 36.4%.
“I think defensively we’ve started to see some things come together,” said head coach Greg Gard, who took over for Bo Ryan three days after the loss to Marquette. “We’ve gotten better at containing the dribble, but we’ve gotten much better at recognizing how important — and appreciating — the other four defenders are out on the floor.”
UW’s defense will be tested by a Marquette team that is better equipped to score than it was last season.
The Golden Eagles are shooting 39.5% from three-point range and 50.3% overall. During their current fivegame winning streak the numbers are better: 42.2% from threepoint range and 53.5% overall.
Seven players have attempted at least 16 three-pointers. Five of those players have hit at least 35.3% of those attempts.
Freshman Sam Hauser leads the way at 52.3% (23 of 44), followed by freshman guard Markus Howard at 50% (18 of 36).
Although Marquette center Luke Fischer gives the team a legitimate inside scorer at 76.1% shooting (51 of 67) and 13.9 points per game, the Golden Eagles excel at penetrating and kicking the ball to open three-point shooters.
“We’ve been getting better in this area of not letting teams drive and kick out for open shots,” said UW senior guard Zak Showalter, who had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to Marquette last season. “I know that is kind of their bread and butter. They want to attack off ball screens, force guys to collapse down and then hit the open shooters.
“That is something we’re going to have to take away obviously.”
Like his teammates, Showalter believes UW is better prepared this season.
“We were still struggling,” he said, referring to last season. “We played them and Milwaukee within a week. It took a while to get the ship righted.
“If you watch the tape, we weren’t good. I think we’ve come a long way.”