Trice setting tone for tougher Badgers
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Wisconsin wasn’t playing like a team capable of making the NCAA Tournament field as it prepared for its Dec. 7 Big Ten opener.
Let’s be blunt: The Badgers had the look of a team that might struggle to make the NIT field as they prepared to host Indiana.
Greg Gard’s team was mired in a three-game losing streak and was 4-4 overall.
UW’s players and coaches said before the season they believed the 201920 team would be able to space the floor with five shooters at a time. Yet in consecutive losses to Richmond, New Mexico and North Carolina State, UW hit just 14 of 76 three-point attempts (18.4%), dropping the team’s threepoint mark to 27.6% (42 of 152).
And with Ohio State transfer Micah Potter ineligible to play until the 11th game, Nate Reuvers was left to go solo against opposing big men.
A little more than 2 1⁄2 months later, the Badgers are playing the type of basketball the staff envisioned. The threepoint shot has become a weapon as seven players are shooting at least 34.6% in Big Ten play. Reuvers and Potter have formed an impressive tandem on both ends of the court.
UW (17-10, 10-6 Big Ten) has won four consecutive games and five of six to climb into a tie for third place as it prepares to face surging Michigan (18-9, 9-7) at 6 p.m. Thursday on ESPN2.
Gard, who has a 97-57 record as head coach, believes that evaluating the growth of point guard D’Mitrik Trice will help anyone trying to understand the growth of the team since late November.
“Trice’s development and evolution is kind of a microcosm of what this team has done and how they’ve grown,” he said. “We didn’t handle adversity well early in the year. We didn’t handle consistent physical play well. If things didn’t go well, we didn’t respond right.
“This group has mentally toughened up and responded and matured.” Let’s start with the play of Trice. The redshirt junior was protecting the ball and distributing to open shooters through the first eight games. He had 26 assists, an average of 3.3 per game, and only 10 turnovers, an average of 1.3 per game.
He was averaging 8.4 points per game but was shooting only 30.2% from three-point range.
He is shooting 36.9% from threepoint range, including 34.8% in league play. In the last 11 Big Ten games, Trice has 61 assists (5.5 per game) and only 21 turnovers (1.9 per game).
With Trice serving as the catalyst, UW has cut down on its turnovers.
The Badgers had at least 12 turnovers in six of their first 10 games, including four games with 14 or more turnovers. Since then, UW has one game of more than 11 turnovers (Rider) and 10 games of single-digit turnovers.
You want ball movement and dependable three-point shooting?
UW during its four-game winning streak has recorded 62 assists on 98 field goals, an assist rate of 63.2%. To put that into context, UW has a 52.4% assist rate in all games.
“I think we’ve passed it really well over the past couple weeks,” Trice said.
The Badgers have hit 50 of 116 threepointers (43.1%) during the current winning streak. They were shooting just 29.7% from three-point range (58 of 195) through the first 10 games of the season.
UW is 12-5 since Potter became eligible, 5-2 since Kobe King left the team late last month and is projected to be seeded No. 8 or No. 7 in the NCAA field.
“How this group has matured has been what I’m most proud of,” Gard said.