Postgame Pulse: Greg Gard, Nick Boyd speak after win vs SIUE
Wisconsin basketball improved to 4-0 before heading to Utah to face the BYU Cougars
Madison, WI — Much like a season ago, Greg Gard has his Wisconsin basketball team and its star transfer humming early on offense. With a 94-69 victory over the SIUE Cougars, the Wisconsin Badgers improved to 4-0 and are averaging 93.3 points per game. It is the fourth-most prolific offensive output in program history through four games, and the most points Wisconsin has scored through four games in a season since 1975.
Although the Badgers only led the Cougars by seven at the half, UW quickly pulled away after the break. In five minutes and 16 seconds, Wisconsin turned a 48-43 lead into a 64-43 margin. It came, in large part, due to some hot three-point shooting.
Wisconsin made the most threes in the Big Ten a season ago and shows early signs of the ability to do so again. Transfer guard Nick Boyd has scored in double-figures each of his four games with UW. The Badgers have made 49 shots from beyond the arc this season, their most made threes in the first four games since at least 2002, and seven more than Wisconsin had made to this point a season ago.
“When you have like-minded individuals in the locker room, you’ll have a united team, and that’s what we have,” Gard said of his team’s early success. “And that’s the coachability. They take coaching. Some guys, I get after them in the huddle, and they respond. And they want to be better. They want to do something special.”
No. 23 Wisconsin will have a chance “to do something special” on Friday afternoon as it travels to face the No. 9 BYU Cougars (yes, back-to-back Cougars) at a semi-road venue in Salt Lake City. It is a challenge the Badgers have been looking forward to ever since being eliminated by BYU in the NCAA Tournament in March.
“I think we’ve gotten to a point where we need to see what’s coming, and we know the challenge it’s gonna be,” said Gard. “And I think this group is ready for it. They’re hungry for it. And I am proud of how they’ve handled these games.”
Listen to SIUE head coach Brian Barone, followed by Wisconsin’s Austin Rapp, John Blackwell, and Boyd, before hearing Gard’s full post-game remarks.
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