Inside job leads to rewarding outcome
Smothering defense in paints propels Badgers
MADISON – Just three days after getting outworked in the paint and seeing its defense imitate a sieve in suffering a humbling home loss to an unranked Maryland team, sixthranked Wisconsin needed to re-establish its identity.
Enter rival Minnesota, a team that had won its previous three games and came to the Kohl Center playing solid basketball.
UW’s defense was sound and tenacious from the opening minute and when the Badgers finally started scoring consistently in the second half, it was no contest.
Greg Gard’s team dominated the paint, smothered Minnesota’s shooters and got balanced scoring in building a 26-point lead before setting for a 71-59 victory.
“Really proud of how we responded today,” Gard said. “I thought our guys defensively were terrific. The individual numbers bear that out.
“To hold a team that has been in
the 80s against almost everybody…just a terrific group effort.”
The Badgers (9-2, 3-1 Big Ten), ranked No. 6 by The Associated Press and No. 7 by the coaches, bounced back impressively from their six-point loss to Maryland on Monday.
Minnesota (9-2, 2-2), tied for No. 21 in The AP poll and tied for No. 24 in the coaches poll, came in with consecutive victories over Iowa and Michigan State. They were scoring 84.3 points per game but left with their lowest point total of the young season.
Micah Potter led UW with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Potter struggled to score inside early but finished 8 of 15.
D’Mitrik Trice outplayed Minnesota guard Marcus Carr and finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. He hit 2 of 3 three-pointers and 6 of 11 shots overall.
Aleem Ford added 14 points. He hit 2 of 5 three-pointers and 6 of 10 shots overall.
Jonathan Davis (eight points), Nate Reuvers (seven points, six rebounds) ad Brad Davison (five points, six rebounds) all did solid work.
On Monday, UW was outscored in the paint, 38-20, by Maryland. The Badgers beat up the Gophers inside Thursday and finished with a 40-18 edge.
“Forty points in the paint,” Gard said. “I thought we did a good job of following the game plan of what we wanted to do.”
UW gave up 46 second-half points to the Terrapins, who hit 11 of their last 12 shots.
Minnesota hit just 7 of 31 threepointers and 20 of 64 shots overall.
“Today we were much more aggressive in all areas,” Gard said, “specifically on the defensive end, more connected.”
Gabe Kalscheur scored 15 points to lead four Minnesota players in double figures.
Carr averaged 16.5 points, 7.0 assists and 5.5 rebounds in two games against UW last season. He entered Thursday averaging 24.0 points, 6.1 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game.
Carr hit just 2 of 8 three-pointers and 3 of 13 shots overall. He finished with 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds but never took over the game.
Trice was the primary defender and Davis handled Carr when Trice went out.
“They did an amazing job of taking him out of his rhythm, being physical with him and making him uncomfortable.”
Two things were obvious from the opening minute.
The Badgers’ defensive intensity was palpable and they were determined to pound the ball inside.
That defense contributed to Minnesota hitting just 3 of 14 three-point attempts (21.4%) and 6 of 31 shots overall (19.4%) in the opening half and UW was able to build a 29-22 lead.
The Badgers took control quickly after halftime by hitting 8 of their first 10 shots to build the lead to 48-29 with 12:57 left.
The lead grew to 26; Minnesota hit some cosmetic three-pointers late; and the Badgers had an impressive and critical victory.
“Obviously Carr is one of the best players in the nation,” Trice said. “We knew he was going to be looking to get his. The main focus was to shut him out and not allow him to make plays for others.”