Badgers too hot to handle for Cardinals
MADISON – Dominating.
No other word better describes how No. 12 Wisconsin dismantled No. 22 Louisville Saturday at the Kohl Center.
How good was UW in the 85-48 victory?
The Badgers hit 4 of their first 5 three-point attempts in building a double-digit lead less than five minutes into the game and matched their seasonhigh mark for three-pointers made in a game (10) by hitting 10 of 17 attempts in the first half.
The result was a 44-18 lead the shorthanded Cardinals had no chance to overcome.
“One of the more complete games we've probably played this year,” UW coach Greg Gard said after his team finished non-conference play at 6-1. “Got a ton of contributions across the board.”
The 37-point margin of victory is UW's largest over an AP Top 25 foe, surpassing a 32-point margin No. 25 Iowa in the 2014-15 season.
The 37-point defeat for Louisville (4-1) was the largest since the Cardinals suffered a 99-59 loss to Xavier — in 1956.
UW in the first 20 minutes shot 58.8% from three-point range, 53.3% overall (16 of 30) had 10 assists and only three turnovers.
The Badgers came in with four players scoring in double figures and two more averaging at least 8.0 points.
That balance was on display Saturday with four players finishing in double figures and three others with at least seven points.
Big men Micah Potter and Nate Reuvers combined for 28 points. Potter finished with 20 points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes. He hit 7 of 13 shots. Reuvers contributed eight points and three assists.
Aleem Ford, who had scored at least nine points in the previous four games, scored from inside and outside Saturday. He contributed 12 points, five rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal.
Trevor Anderson continued his solid play with 11 points and three assists. The marksman hit 3 of 3 three-pointers and 4 of 4 shots overall.
Brad Davison, who shot 50% and averaged 20.0 points in victories over Rhode Island and Loyola, scored all 10 of his points in the opening half Saturday. He hit 3 of 6 three-pointers and added four assists, two rebounds and two steals.
D'Mitrik Trice hit his first 3 threepointers to help UW build a 12-4 lead 31⁄2 minutes into the game. He didn't take another shot, content instead to move the ball within the offense, and finished with five assists and no turnovers.
Freshman Jonathan Davis added seven points, six rebounds and three assists in another solid, all-round effort.
“We have a lot of different weapons, so you've got to pick your poison,” Davison said. “If you want to take away the big guys inside you're going to give up a lot of open threes. If you're going to take away the threes, you've got to deal with our big guys one-on-one.”
UW finished at 64.0% from threepoint range (16 of 25) and 54.4% overall (31-57). The Badgers more than doubled their 10 turnovers with 22 assists on 31 baskets.
“The biggest thing is that we're improving,” Potter said.
The Cardinals have battled COVID-19 issues this year and were without arguably their best player, guard Carlik Jones (17.3 ppg), who recently tested positive.
In addition, the Cardinals hadn't played since Dec. 1. The absence of Jones and the long layoff showed.
“I don't want to discredit our guys for performing at a really high level,” Gard said when asked about the absence of Jones. “I thought we were really good regardless of who is in the other jerseys… I thought we did a really good job of imposing our will.”