Wisconsin Badgers overcome 'segment of bad basketball'
Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard did not like all he saw on Tuesday against the Ball State Cardinals, but shots going in 'makes everything else look good'
Madison, WI — Allowing a mere 55 points, nine fewer than Wisconsin basketball had allowed in either of its two previous matchups, the Wisconsin Badgers took a step defensively. Offensively, it was something of a mixed bag, as UW scored over 80 points, marking the first time in 50 years the Badgers have done so in their first three games, but also suffered a full ten-minute stretch of what head coach Greg Gard plainly called “bad basketball.”
By defeating the Ball State Cardinals 86-55, Wisconsin is 3-0 in back-to-back seasons, and for the fourth time in six. Under Gard’s leadership, the Badgers remain undefeated at home against non-power conference teams since 2015.
“We had a segment of bad basketball in the first half,” Gard admitted. “Second half, I thought, for the most part, we were in control and did some good things. Obviously, it helps when shots go in, makes everything else look good.”
After halftime, the Badgers made eight of 15 attempted three-pointers, but that merely corrected an ice-cold stretch from earlier.
First half tale of two halves
In the first 10 minutes, the Wisconsin offense did no wrong. The Badgers outscored the Cardinals 30-10 with not just a lights-out shooting performance from beyond the arc, but also with dynamic playmaking.
Complementing Wisconsin’s 5-12 start on three-pointers, the Badgers logged seven assists. Plus, a well-placed pass by Jack Janicki to Nolan Winter in the pick-and-roll gave UW another two points at the free-throw line.
“First ten minutes, ball was moving, people were shooting with confidence, making that extra pass for, you know, a good shot for a great shot,” Badgers forward Winter said of the early success. “I think that’s when our offense is at its best. When we’re playing unselfish, playing confident, moving the ball.”
“I thought early, we were really moving it,” Gard added. “And finding the open guy maybe as well as we have all year. Then, we sputtered.”
That hot start did not carry over past the midway point of the opening frame. Before the ten-minute mark, Wisconsin had not turned over the ball, but exited the court at halftime after giving away the ball seven times. From beyond the perimeter, the Badgers cooled off dramatically, missing 10 of 11 shots.
Wisconsin’s total of 23 attempts from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes was its third-most in a half in program history, and its most-ever in a win. It is UW’s most attempts from beyond the arc in a half since trying 25 in the opening frame while visiting the Creighton Bluejays in November of 2016.
In Gard’s new-look offense, Wisconsin led the Big Ten in threes a season ago, averaging 10.3 per game in conference play. Thus far, Wisconsin has picked up where it left off, hitting an average of ten across its first two contests. Against the Cardinals, however, UW fell in love with the long ball to its detriment.
“That segment where we played bad basketball, [the ball] wasn’t moving,” said Gard. “And, obviously, that, you know, that causes shots not to go in because you’re not taking the best shot you can get. So, I thought we took good shots when we could’ve turned good ones down to get great ones and move it a little bit more.”
During a stretch in which Ball State held Wisconsin scoreless for 3:16, the Badgers missed five consecutive 3-pointers, attempted by four different shooters. In that time, UW did not attempt a shot from two, did not get to the free-throw line, and turned the ball over twice.
“When you have a team that’s built to shoot ‘em, I’m not going to micromanage, you know, unless it gets really egregious,” Gard said of his team’s shot selection. “And I don’t think there were any that were too far out of character, it was the ball movement that stopped. We got stagnant, and we over-dribbled. That’s where we played that segment of bad basketball.”
Wisconsin basketball turns missed threes into second-chance opportunities
Despite the misses, the Badgers oftentimes still managed to turn them into points on Tuesday night. UW turned 15 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points. Twelve of those boards and 11 of those points came after Wisconsin missed threes.
Anyone who has spent years watching Wisconsin basketball knows this is out of character for the Badgers.
“It’s a little contradictive [sic] to how we, maybe we’ve been built in the past,” Gard admitted. Early on, his team has positioned itself in the top 100 in offensive rebounding percentage for the first time in nine seasons.
“Because of the threes and because of—we have—our guards are really good rebounders,” the two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year boasted. “We have guys that really pursue the ball. [John] Blackwell, [Braeden] Carrington, [Andrew] Rohde’s got a good nose for it. Hayden Jones is a good rebounder for a guard. Janicki.”
Those five combined for eight of Wisconsin’s offensive boards against Ball State, despite Rohde not coming down with one. Through three games, Wisconsin has had no fewer than 13 offensive rebounds in each of its early contests, tying or outpacing its game-high from a season ago.
“The guys who are going to get those boards, they just kind of want it bad enough,” Carrington, who scored 12 points and secured four rebounds, said of why the Badgers have showcased prowess on the glass. “For me, personally, it’s fun to go get rebounds, I guess you would say. You know, you got [Janicki] going in like me, him and I are very similar with that. We both like doing just the things other people don’t like.”
Finding more rebounds from the wing has been a revelation for the Badgers, who lost two of their three top rebounders, Steven Crowl and John Tonje, to the professional ranks. Janicki, who averaged only 1.4 boards per game as a redshirt freshman, is more than doubling that output with 3.0 per game as a sophomore.
“In the concept, too, of if you’re shooting that many threes, I think there’s a lot of—there’s a lot of meat on the bone we can go get,” Gard said, explaining how the importance of tweaking his team’s tendencies to complement its shooting. “And, we obvsiously, we’ve tried to emphasize it. I haven’t hammered it home as much as I should have, or should. It’s something we’ll have to continue to be opportunistic with attacking the glass.”
Nobody, however, has added more of a punch on the glass than Nolan Winter. The junior recorded his fifth double-double of his career on Tuesday with 19 points (one shy of his career-high) and 10 rebounds.
Despite averaging 9.7 rebounds, significantly more than his team-leading 5.8 per game as a sophomore, Gard said Winter “could be more emphatic with and more aggressive.”
“I’m complaining about a double-double, but I think he’s got more in him,” Gard added. “I think he’s got—he’s not anywhere near where he can be and that’s the exciting part.”
“As a seven-footer, I know that’s kind of my job,” Winter said of his ability to seemingly rebound at will. “So having that mentality of every ball’s mine when it’s shot, it’s kind of my thing this year. So that’s what I’m going to carry on for the whole season. Yeah, I mean, it’s whatever this team needs honestly to win and through three games, we’ve done a pretty good job of winning so far.”
Whether he is setting a career-high with three blocks against Ball State, or continuing his double-double dominance, that has been a consistent key to success during the Lakeville, Minnesota native’s time at Wisconsin. The Badgers are 17-3 when Winter scores in double-figures.
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