Wisconsin basketball takes advantage of its foul trouble, beats NIU
A persistent whistle caused Wisconsin basketball head coach Greg Gard, for better or worse, to tinker with his rotation early in the season
Madison, WI - Even on a stop-and-go officiating night inside the Kohl Center, the Wisconsin basketball offense was all go. The Wisconsin Badgers improved to 2-0 on the young season, with a well-rounded 97-72 victory in which five Badgers logged career-high scoring totals, and no player on UW’s roster logged over 27 minutes. Combined with UW’s season-opening win over the Campbell Fighting Camels, it is the first time Wisconsin has eclipsed 90 points in its first two games since 1993.
Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard was impressed with his team’s performance from the outset. The two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year touted his team’s ability to be “really intense from the beginning” and that it stayed “really focused, pretty much the whole game.” That intensity and focus, along with some foul trouble, allowed Gard to tinker with his lineup and learn more about his team.
Gard used the early non-conference test to “develop different combinations that we can use and see who works well together,” and, so far, most combinations are working.
Wisconsin basketball back to free-throw shooting prowess
Even when Wisconsin failed to make shots from the field, it still scored with efficiency. In the final 8:24 of the first half, the Badgers missed six consecutive shots. Only John Blackwell’s mid-range jumper, made four seconds before halftime, went down in that cold shooting stretch.
When Nick Boyd made a three-pointer 8:20 before that Blackwell jumper, it extended the UW lead to 12 points. Between those two buckets, Wisconsin made seven trips to the free-throw line and continued its prowess at the charity stripe. Through foul shooting, Wisconsin widened its lead to a 19-point margin at the half.
Northern Illinois head coach Rashon Burno said the stop-and-start nature of the whistle really put Wisconsin’s “size into play” and limited his team’s plan to play more up and down the court.”
“We wanted to play more pace and space,” the fifth-year NIU coach added.
After leading the country in team free-throw percentage a season ago, the Badgers have picked up right where they left off. In the season-opener against the Campbell Fighting Camels, Wisconsin made 17 of 19 attempts from the line. Against Northern Illinois, the Badgers were just a tick less impressive, making 28 of 37, attempting their most shots from the charity stripe since a victory over the Arizona Wildcats last season. Wisconsin attempted 47 free throws in that non-conference contest.
Foul trouble for both teams leads to clunky lineup
The whistle blew early and often throughout the night, and it was not one-sided. First-half foul trouble was partly responsible for the gummed-up Gard offense. That trend continued after the break, making it difficult for the Badgers to widen their lead.
Gard’s inexperienced frontcourt reserves received generous playing time against the Huskies. Starter Austin Rapp sat on the bench the final 10:51 before halftime with two fouls. Three whistles against freshman center Will Garlock in the opening 20 minutes forced UW further down its bench.
“I’ll look through the film and see, you know, what we can clean up from the fouls versus what is a foul in November that might not be a foul in January when we get to more physical teams that they tend to let more things go,” said Gard of the prolific whistles.
Sophomore Jack Robison logged just under three minutes in the first half. The Lakeville, Minnesota native appeared in 13 games, playing a total of 16 minutes in his first year. With Robison playing alongside junior Nolan Winter in the frontcourt against the Huskies, the Badgers did not make a shot from the field and were outscored 4-2. Wisconsin committed six total turnovers in the opening frame, including two with Robison on the floor.
“I thought [Robison] helped us get through with Aussie and Will getting some fouls to get us into halftime where those guys can get back and get into the rotation,” noted Gard.
Five Wisconsin Badgers set new career-high scoring totals
Despite the stop-and-go nature of a game with over 50 personal fouls called, nothing was clunky for Nick Boyd. The transfer by way of the San Diego State Aztecs and the Florida Atlantic University Owls recorded a career-high 25 points, with 20 of them coming in the first half.
“When we get stops, I got the freedom to just fly down the court, so I love that,” Boyd said.
Boyd’s quick pace, something that inspired Gard to call the senior “a jet,” has made him a unique scoring threat in a Wisconsin offense looking to push the pace in a new era. The Garnerville, New York native twice scored on the fast break off an NIU turnover on Friday.
The graduate student shot 8-16 from the field, 3-8 from beyond the arc, and 6-8 from the free-throw line. He and junior guard John Blackwell, who poured in 15 points against the Huskies, have each scored 46 points through Wisconsin’s first two games, trailing only Alando Tucker for the most by a Badger dating back to the 2004-05 season.
Burno said Boyd “is probably one of the fastest guards in the country.”
Boyd, three freshmen (Garlock, Hayden Jones, and Aleksas Bieliauskas), and Isaac Gard set new career highs in scoring.
“I.G.’s one of those dudes who comes in every single day with the same level of intensity, with the same passion,” Wisconsin guard Andrew Rohde said of Isaac Gard’s ability to come off the bench in the final moments of a game and impact the final score. “He bleeds Badger red, and he shows that every single day in practice.”
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