Badgers' Guards Deliver on Sundays

Any time a Big Ten team travels on the road, there is no guarantee that they are winning the game no matter how much it seems like a given. Wisconsin-Penn State felt like one of those games with the possibility of going down to the wire especially at an early Sunday morning game in a half-full gym. Badgers grinded out the game and maintained their lead despite the Nittany Lions late charge, winning 71-66 with a big effort from Josh Gasser and Ben Brust along the Badgers finding a way to win without their big men having strong games.

The most underrated player on Wisconsin's roster is Josh Gasser. People really do not look at him when talking about Wisconsin because Gasser does not do anything 'great', but he does a ton of good things. He scored 15 points in a win with his fourth straight game with double-digit scoring yet people sort of forget Gasser is doing these sort of things for Wisconsin. Additionally, the shot selection has been great as he is averaging 66 percent from the field in these four games. Gasser held Penn State's star Tim Frazier in check with 10 points on only eight shots on the defensive end. The fact he still has another year at Wisconsin tells me there is still a ceiling for him.

After a couple games of struggle, Ben Brust had a big second half against Indiana and followed it up with another big game on Sunday.  He filled up the box score in more ways than just raining in three pointers as he added a couple rebounds, assists and a steal along with making threes. Brust had four threes in the game plus found a way to score otherwise getting 14 points total for the game. Wisconsin does not need to be a crazed outside shooting team when Brust is on point. It almost feels like when Brust is off, Wisconsin tries to force their outside shot to pick up Brust. This is what the Badgers need from Brust in March if they want to make a deep run. If him and Gasser can provide nearly 30 points like they did on Sunday, their odds of winning games are going to very high.  

What's something that might go unnoticed with Wisconsin's win against Penn State was Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky both struggled mightily despite the Badgers strong effort. This is the first time in awhile where we have seen both of them struggle and Wisconsin win the game. That's extremely important even though Penn State are not world-beaters by any means. Additionally, this means I am curious to see if the result would have  differ if this was an average or above average Big Ten. If Wisconsin can figure out way to win without those two being at their peak performance, that makes this team an even bigger threat in March.

It appears like Wisconsin is locked into playing in-state for their first two games of their NCAA Tournament unless they find a way to lose their last three games which is highly unbelievable. Badgers rounded back into form at the right time of the season and will likely get rewarded for it.

Charlie.

Badgers' Big Second Half Makes the Difference

The fall from grace for Wisconsin started when they fell to Indiana on a Tuesday night in Bloomington.
Hoosiers played great and the Badgers' defensive effort was mediocre at best. They got off to a slow start on Tuesday at Kohl Center. Indiana had the lead heading into halftime as Wisconsin turned in a poor shooting performance as well as a poor defensive effort. Everything changed in the second half leading Wisconsin to a 69-58 victory. This is the exact reason why Wisconsin could beat almost any team and lose to any team in the nation due to their reliance on the jump shot.

What a bizarre game this was for Wisconsin with under 20 points in the first period and then getting 50 in the next period. Obviously, this leads to poor shooting with Wisconsin shooting 25 percent from the field before half and nearly 62 percent after it. Badgers did not play a complete game, and we can debate all day whether that is important in the grand scheme of things. I would say the importance of it would be a concern that Wisconsin becomes comfortable believing they can sort of 'turn it on' whenever the Badgers want versus attacking early and often.

This was the first game in recent memory where Wisconsin did not get anything from their bench, but that was fine as Badgers had all five starters in double-figures led by Sam Dekker. Amid the poor team shooting, Dekker had another strong performance from the field making five of seven shots, only shooting two threes making one and getting to the line five times. This is what you want from Dekker. The ability to attack the basket and get fouls instead of launching threes in an attempt to get him going. It seems like the Badgers power forward is coming into stride with how to create opportunities for him. This is a positive thing to see from Dekker.

Ben Brust seemed to have fallen into a slump in the past couple of games. Badgers fans started to get restless when it came to Brust continuing to shoot the ball in the first half and finding iron. He only made three of his 10 shots on Tuesday and nine of them came from behind the arc. All of his damage came in the second half with a fury of threes. In the last two games, the Badgers shooting guard had nine points total going 4/18 from the field and while this game does not look perfect on paper, it seems like Brust started to get himself going again. I also think people looked way too far into it. He had 20 points two weeks ago against Minnesota yet we had people worried about Brust's shooting. Hopefully, the second half quiets the weird Brust ground swell.

Usually this space is spent on Wisconsin, but it is hard to believe with this team, Indiana has nine losses in Big Ten play. I realize this is one of the best conferences in college basketball, but with the talent Indiana has, they should be at least a bubble team. Crazy thing is with how prestigious Indiana is as a program, they do not even need to be a good bubble team. Just be on there and the tournament will find a spot for them yet right now, Indiana looks like a subpar middle of the road program. Instead they are four games under .500 and it is probable Noah Vonleh heads to the NBA, possibly Yogi Ferrell too plus they lose Will Sheehey. Tom Crean's seat is starting to get warm. He will not get fired, but the pressure is building on the Indiana coach. One positive is they have three of their last four games at home and against ranked teams (Michigan is on the road), they could still make a push for the bubble if they win out.

Wisconsin continues its dominance against Indiana especially at the Kohl Center. I believe Crean has not won there since coaching for Indiana. This is not how it used to be as Wisconsin holds only a 23-41 against the Hoosiers since 1979. How times have changed in the Big Ten.

Charlie.

Wisconsin's Basketball Revenge Ax

This week is a revenge reunion tour for Wisconsin Badgers basketball team with playing Minnesota and Michigan, two teams they lost to earlier this season. They had a chance to not only avenge a couple losses but also make a move in the B1G standings. Badgers took care of one last night by beating Minnesota, 78-70, with a big Ben Brust performance, Badgers earning it from the free throw line and Wisconsin becoming an all-around good team again for the first time in a long while. 

This is one of those games where it is not really considered a blowout, but Wisconsin held Minnesota at bay for the majority of the game. The closest Minnesota got in the second half was five points twice, but really this game resembled the first one except the other team won the game. Badgers put the Gophers into submission, and never let them even sniff a lead in the second period. This was a dominating win for the Badgers even if the box score does not completely reflect it. 

Ben Brust is having a good season, but I do not think many people are realizing it. He does it in such a quiet manner. Brust is averaging 13.2 points a game which is two points above his junior year average and a career-high for him. No one talks about Brust as everyone is talking about Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes. My assumption is Brust does not care, and he will keep grinding. Last night, he played great with going perfect from three making four threes and had 20 points, a near season-high for him. Additionally, this was a great bounce back for him as he only had five points against Michigan State including a big free throw miss late in the game that nearly cost Wisconsin. If Brust becomes more of an offensive threat than just a three-point shooter, Badgers will be much better.  

Wisconsin and the free throw line have a bizarre relationship. It does seem like when the Badgers settle for 3-pointers they do not typically win games. Weirdly enough, Marquette and them, are similar in that way minus the fact Wisconsin can nail down threes. They got to the line 36 times last night with a big night at the line from Frank Kaminksy. For the season, Big Frank shoots about 80 percent from the line, and he went perfect yesterday going nine for nine. The nine free throw attempts were a season-high for Kaminsky. Wisconsin did a great job feeding him in the post, and Kaminsky made sure he forced contact drawing the attempts. Another guy that earned it from the line again was Nigel Hayes. This is the second straight game where he shot above 75 percent as he went five for six from the charity stripe. If Hayes continually shoots about 70 percent from both the field and the free throw line, Wisconsin will be very strong as a unit. 

It seems like for the first time in weeks, Wisconsin figured things out with both offense and defense. The last three games have been supremely encouraging for this team, and Wisconsin might be hitting their collective stride at the right time. Michigan State was a close win by box score terms for the Badgers, but really, they had control of the whole game until the final moments where they could not make a shot. Further, that's the only game in the three where they have went cold for a long period of time. Badgers are still three games back from the B1G lead, but they could push towards the top in the coming weeks. 

Revenge tour makes a stop at Ann Arbor this Sunday taking on Michigan, a team that gave Wisconsin all sorts of trouble at home. Badgers hope to repay the favor. This will be the Badgers first visit to Crisler Arena since 2011-2012 season where they only scored 41 points. Hopefully for Wisconsin, history does not repeat itself. 

Charlie.