Happ, Davison show grit but that isn’t enough

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Wisconsin coach Greg Gard won’t be satisfied with the result, a frustrating 70-65 loss to No. 24 Baylor on Monday night at the Sprint Center.

But he had to be encouraged by the grit his team showed, led by Ethan Happ and freshman Brad Davison, in the second half after the Badgers trailed by as many as 17 points in the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Classic.

UW (2-2) suffered its second consecutive loss to a ranked team, this time thanks largely to an ugly start on both ends of the court.

The Badgers will play at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against No. 23 UCLA (3-1), which suffered a 100-89 loss to Creighton in the first semifinal.

The Bruins were without freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, who were suspended indefinitely after being arrested for shoplifting during a trip to China.

Baylor, which has six players from the team reached the Sweet 16 last season, improved to 4-0.

UW faced myriad problems Monday night. The biggest? Ethan Happ didn’t get nearly enough support from his teammates.

Happ carried UW in the first half with 11 points, three assists and two rebounds. He hit 5 of 9 shots and the rest of the team was just 5 of 15.

Happ finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. He made 11 of 19 shots. The rest of the team was a combined to make just 12 of 39 attempts.

Freshman guard Brad Davison matched Happ’s intensity and added 13 points, three rebounds and two assists before fouling out with 21. 6 seconds left and UW trailing, 66-60.

Davison left with 13 minutes 52 seconds left in the game after suffering what appeared to be a left shoulder injury. After being checked out in the locker room, Davison returned with 11:36 left.

Happ scored six points and Davison five in a 16-3 run as UW pulled within 5753 with 3:55 left.

After a Baylor timeout with 3:46 left, UW pulled within 57-55 when Davison fed Happ for a lay-in with 2:16 left.

Khalil Iverson fouled Manu Lecomte (24 points, 13 of 15 free-throw attempts) on a three-point attempt with 1:59 left.

Lecomte, who entered the night 18 of 18 from the line entering the game, made all three for a 60-55 lead.

Iverson then missed a dunk on the other end and Lecomte was fouled again. He made both shots to give Baylor a 62-55 edge.

Aleem Ford (10 points) answered with a three-pointer to pull UW within 62-58 with 53.8 seconds left and the Badgers immediately called a timeout.

UW had to foul and the Bears, who hit 20 of 27 free-throw attempts, hit six in a row to push the lead to 68-62.

Brevin Pritzl added seven points for UW. Iverson had seven points, seven rebounds and five assists but hit just 2 of 10 shots. He missed several shots at the rim, a problem that plagued UW early.