UW looks to bounce back against Illini
MADISON - Wisconsin’s assistants listened while head coach Greg Gard addressed his team minutes after an ugly 28-point loss at Purdue.
After Gard was finished Tuesday night in the UW locker room, assistant Howard Moore decided he needed to shed some frustration.
“Coach Moore got a lot of things off his chest that we needed to hear,” freshman guard Brad Davison said. “It was kind of, look in the mirror and see what we can do to help this team.”
As UW (9-10, 2-4 Big Ten) prepared to host Illinois (10-9, 0-6) at 8 p.m. Friday, Moore explained the reason and timing for his sermon.
The loss was UW’s fifth against a ranked team this season, but the first by more than 11 points.
“As a former player, you wear your heart on your sleeve,” Moore said. “It wasn’t just the margin against Purdue but more the volume of mistakes that we made. And that is the thing that gets you frustrated.
“That is one of the best teams in the country this year. They could easily be a Final Four team.
“That is a team that doesn’t need much help. And we didn’t give much resistance. And that is the thing that was disheartening.”
Mistakes on defense and 15 turnovers contributed to Purdue shooting 54.5% from three-point range and building a 17-point halftime lead.
Down by 12 points less than three minutes into the game, UW was finished.
“I look at it as an anomaly,” Moore said. “I don’t think that is us. I think that was just one of those games when we got away from ourselves.
“Maybe it was the moment. Maybe it was a little bit of fear and anxiousness. But it was out of character. Because we’ve shown that we have the ability compete, play at a high level.
“In that situation, we took a step back. That was the frustrating part.”
No game is a sure thing for this UW team, but the Illini are struggling.
They gave up a game-winning three-pointer in the final seconds Monday at Nebraska and before that blew a 20-point first-half lead and fell in overtime to visiting Iowa.
UW’s woes are not closely guarded secrets.
Communication issues, exacerbated by Purdue’s crisp ball movement, affected UW’s defensive execution.
Davison and Ethan Happ had seven turnovers apiece.
That was a season-high mark for Davison and tied Happ’s season-high mark, set two games earlier at Rutgers.
Three-point shooting in the last three games – 13 of 51 for 25.5% – has been awful and productivity from the bench has been spotty and at times anemic.
One reserve who could help is junior forward Alex Illikainen.
Illikainen played a total of one minute in UW’s first five Big Ten games but got a season-high 16 minutes against Purdue.
He combined with freshman Nate Reuvers to help limit center Isaac Haas to two points and four rebounds. Haas entered the night averaging 14.8 points per game and shooting 63.8%. He missed all five of his field-goal attempts against UW.
“Alex and Nate did an unbelievable job on Haas,” Gard said. “They battled. They were in position.”
Illikainen contributed five points, three rebounds and one block. He made a sharp cut to get open for a layin and hit 1 of 2 three-pointers.
Illikainen’s confidence on offense came from his work on the defensive end.
“It starts defensively, knowing he is a huge threat and you have to stop him,” he said. “So physically that gets you into it. You’re a huge part of the game trying to stop him.
“It was a lot of fun. It was nice being physical with him. I’ve always tried to be a physical player.”
But can Illikainen build on his solid showing at Purdue? In past seasons, his inconsistency has led to diminished minutes.
“The past couple years I’ve had some decent games,” he said, “and then I was not there the next game.”
UW failed to show at Purdue and Davison, one of the more outgoing players on the team, appeared despondent.
“We’ve got to get back to work,” he said quietly. “We’ve got to flush this one out. We’ve got to get right back to it for a big game Friday. It’s definitely a game that we need.
“We can’t let our confidence waver. We’ve got to keep believing in ourselves.”