Badgers know they must pull off inside job to succeed
MADISON – Wisconsin’s inside game, critical to providing open looks from three-point range, was dead on arrival against Maryland.
Consider UW’s first two possessions in the 70-64 loss:
Neither Nate Reuvers nor Micah Potter could secure an advantage near the lane on the opening possession and UW ended up settling for a late three-point shot by Aleem Ford that missed.
Potter set a screen for D’Mitrik Trice on the second possession and rolled into the lane, where he was wide open and calling for the ball.
Reuvers, who got the ball on the left wing from Trice, either didn’t see Potter or didn’t feel comfortable making the pass. He launched a three-pointer with 12 seconds left on the shot clock and missed.
Those scenarios played out most of the game.
The Badgers didn’t get the ball inside often enough and settled for too many low-percentage perimeter shots. They were outscored in the paint, 38-20, and shot 38.1% from three-point range, only the second time in the past five games they failed to hit at least 40%.
“I didn’t think we established ourselves in the paint nearly well enough,” UW coach Greg Gard said. “Even at halftime I did not feel we were where we needed to be, establishing ourselves inside specifically and getting to the foul line more.
“Early tonight I thought we didn’t throw it in. We had guys open. We talked about it in multiple timeouts. We talked about it at halftime.”
That issue will have to be addressed, beginning when UW (8-2, 2-1 Big Ten) hosts Minnesota (9-1, 2-1) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
“That has been a constant all year,” Gard said, “establishing our interior game first and let the perimeter game play off of what we establish inside. …
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“We don’t throw it in there enough. And not that we have to score from there, but it is such a great play-making position.
“You shoot a higher percentage from three when you throw it in. You get more fouls when you throw it in. There’s a lot of benefits, other than the recipient scoring, when you throw it in the paint.”
UW’s inability to play inside-out against the smaller Terrapins was highlighted early in the second half.
The Badgers attempted a threepointer on six of their first seven possessions. They worked the ball into the lane on three of those six possessions. They scored on two of those three possessions and failed to score on the three possessions the ball never went inside.
“I think early on we definitely settled for threes and deep twos, especially in the first half and early in the second half,” senior guard D’Mitrik Trice said. “Coach already mentioned it is going to be on film.”
Potter was able to post up against 6-foot-7 forward Donta Scott on Wisconsin’s third possession of the second half but missed a left-handed hook.
“Credit to Maryland for how they were making it a little harder,” Gard said, “but we also left some points on the table by not finishing inside.”
Reuvers has been inconsistent in the lane this season. At times when he can’t back his man down into scoring position, he settles for a fade-away jumper.
“I’ve got to get better looks from two,” he said recently. “Just getting a better base, getting lower, getting deeper catches so you can get easy looks right at the rim.”
That hasn’t happened enough through the first 10 games.
“We need to be more aggressive in the paint,” Gard said. “We need to be more forceful. At times we do it and at times we revert back to not being as aggressive and being a little more passive. We’ve got to continue to help these guys get better.”