Freshmen help UW overpower River Hawks
MADISON – In the middle of Wisconsin’s current four-game winning streak, the Badgers have averaged 81.5 points per game and have shot better than 50% from the field in every matchup.
The freshmen have accounted for more than 40% of the scoring.
We’ll find out soon whether or not this will be strong enough to compete in the Big Ten, but it was plenty to dismiss the UMass-Lowell on Saturday, when the Badgers won, 82-53.
“Anytime you have success, it helps build confidence, regardless of who you’re playing against,” said Gard. “Having had two league games already, we’ve already gotten a taste of what it’s like.
“Obviously we have a different lineup – the last two weeks or so we’ve had to shuffle the deck a little bit. We’re still growing. … We know the opponents will change and understand the level of competition will increase dramatically.”
Wisconsin (8-7) pulled out to a 4220 lead at halftime by hitting 56.7% of its shots and 5 of 8 three pointers. Ethan Happ and Brevin Pritzl paced the early scoring and ended up leading Wisconsin, with 18 points apiece.
Five minutes in to the second half, with UW up, 53-23, the Badgers put on a little bit of a show, with a Brad Davison-to-Khalil Iverson alley-oop on one end of the court, and then an Iverson block on the other.
The River Hawks (6-7), of the America East conference, was led by Josh Gantz’s 16 points.
“I think we understood that we just were outmatched, outsized, against a good team that shared the ball and shot well on their home floor,” said UMass Lowell coach Pat Duquette.
Wisconsin redshirt freshman Aleem Ford, who leads the Badgers in threepoint field goal percentage, was 2-3 in this game and has shot 9 of 12 in last three games.
“Confidence is definitely helping me, as has been getting easy shots from Ethan,” said Ford. “They’ve been finding me. The shot difficulty wasn’t too hard.”
This wrapped up the non-conference season for the Badgers; Greg Gard has a 19-8 overall record in non-league games. Defensively the Badgers still have questions, even though this game marked a more consistent effort.
“We were better today because we were more consistent,” said Gard. “Better in our communication. That’s not only verbal, that’s visual communication of ball screens and our coverages, where the direction of the ball is, all the things strategically that we put in to that.”
Davison played 20 minutes and appeared to avoid any of the left shoulder problems that have plagued him for weeks.
“I can’t speak to the medical component of it; I’m not a doctor, I’m not a trainer,” said Gard. “It’s been discussed at length between Brad, his parents and the doctors. They make the decisions on, can he play, can he not play, how much can he play? Can he practice, can’t he practice?
“I don’t have a voice in that and I don’t need a voice in that. That’s their decision. I just go by what our trainer tells me.
“All I can judge is the level of competitiveness that he plays with, injured or not injured … he’s always been a high level competitor, terrific leader.”
MARY LANGENFELD / USA TODAY SPORTS