Gard increases backup power
Starters playing fewer minutes
Madison — Nigel Hayes is ready and eager to log heavy minutes.
Wisconsin’s senior forward averaged 17.4 minutes per game as a key reserve as a freshman in 2013-’14, then 33 minutes as a starter in 2014-’15 and 36.2 minutes last season.
But Hayes has grudgingly accepted the fact that under Greg Gard, in his first full season as head coach, the bench will play a greater role and the starters will get more rest.
“Coach Gard is doing what he perceives is best as far as trying to limit our min-
utes looking down the road,” Hayes said. “I would rather be on the court.”
As UW (10-2) prepares to host Florida A&M (2-10) at 8 p.m. Friday, all five starters are averaging fewer minutes per game than they were through 12 games last season.
Hayes is averaging 28.9 minutes, a drop of 7.7.
Bronson Koenig is at 28.8, a drop of 7.8.
Zak Showalter is at 27.0, a drop of 7.3.
Ethan Happ is at 24.5, a drop of 3.8.
Vitto Brown is at 21.3, a drop of 6.3.
The new face in Gard’s regular rotation, which is 10 deep, is freshman guard D’Mitrik Trice.
Trice is averaging 18.3 minutes per game, most among the reserves. The reasons? He is averaging 6.1 points and 1.8 assists, is shooting 56.0% from three-point range (14 of 25), generally makes sound decisions with the ball and isn’t a defensive liability.
“I wouldn’t say anybody could have expected it or envisioned it,” Trice said of his contributions, “but I knew I wanted to come in and make a difference on this team.”
Sophomore guard Khalil Iverson is making a difference, too.
His minutes are down slightly
from this point last season — to 16.0 from 16.4 — but his productivity is up. Iverson is averaging 5.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, up from 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds last season.
Iverson’s biggest jump has come in finishing plays near the rim. He is shooting 67.6% this season (25 of 37), compared to 38.2% through 12 games last season (13 of 34).
“I remember last year there were times he would get the ball in a position to make a really good athletic play.” UW assistant Lamont Paris said of Iverson. “Sometimes it would be completed and sometimes it would be blocked. He was getting his shot blocked early in the year, especially around the rim. A guy like that, it shouldn’t happen that often.”
After Trice and Iverson, Gard has used varying combinations of forwards Alex Illikainen and Charlie Thomas and guard Jordan Hill.
Thomas (2.9 ppg, 1.8 rpg) is more comfortable in a physical game underneath but must continue to improve his footwork on the defensive end because he will be asked to switch onto smaller players on screens.
Illikainen (1.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg) played aggressively and confidently in preseason practice but that hasn’t carried over to games. As a result, he has spent more time in practice on the scout team in recent weeks.
“I’ve got to go in there and attack everything, be more physical,” he said. “I have to put myself out there more and not really worry about making mistakes.”
Hill is shooting only 30.0% but has nine assists and only three turnovers. Unfortunately for Hill, however, Trice has been too good to keep on the bench.
“I think from game to game, each player’s individual strengths or deficiencies play in my mind in terms of who is going to get more minutes,” Gard said. “We’re pretty well locked in on 10. And then how eight, nine and 10 fluctuate within that group really depends on the flow of the game, the type of game it is, who is playing well, who is struggling a little bit.
“Those are always in-game determinations. I don’t go in with a set-in-stone plan.”