Coming from a tough home loss to Maryland, Wisconsin Badgers’ No. 6 men’s basketball team (9-2 overall, 3-1 B1G) was back in action on New Year’s Eve for a rivalry game with No 21 Minnesota (9-2 overall, 2-2 B1G).
While the Badgers had a recent stumble, Minnesota came up with consecutive wins over ranked opponents, thanks to a stellar game by point guard Marcus Carr. On Wednesday afternoon, at the Kohl Center, it was the Badgers who emerged victorious, beating the Gophers by 12 to lead the entire game.
In the early stages of the game, the Badgers made a concerted effort to enter the field against Minnesota centerman Liam Robbins. Micah Potter scored the first five points of the game, while Wisconsin passed the ball to him in the painting against Robbins repeatedly.
After Minnesota began to find its pace in the attack, Wisconsin was able to force four consecutive turns, including a beautiful Jonathan Davis wallet that led to an escape dunk. As a result, Wisconsin had a 14-7 lead after the first eight minutes of action.
In the next few minutes, neither team was able to do much on the offensive side. The prolonged scoring droughts hurt both teams, but it would be Wisconsin who would maintain a safe distance from the Gophers with five more points, with 3:48 remaining in the first half.
Over the final minutes, Wisconsin was able to slightly increase its lead to take a seven-point lead at halftime.
Wisconsin takes a 29-22 advantage in half.
O #Badgers threw 39.4% of the field and forced seven turns from Minnesota.
Micah Potter in the double-double watch with 10 points and 9 rebounds already.
– Bucky’s 5th quarter (@ B5Q) December 31, 2020
Leaving the break, Aleem Ford would score five quick points to help propel the Badgers to a 14 point lead over Squirrels after the first three minutes.
Wisconsin would continue to accumulate for the next five minutes, as Minnesota could not find an answer to anything the Badgers did. Wisconsin was able to increase its lead to 26 at one point, but the Gophers would make a brief run to reduce the score back to 17 with four minutes remaining at the break.
Over the final minutes, the Badgers were able to race the clock and finally secured a 12 point win.
And that will do.
O #Badgers led the Gophers all the time, as they improved to 3-1 in B1G with a 71-59 victory over Minnesota.
Micah Potter led the team with 18 points and 11 boards.
– Bucky’s 5th quarter (@ B5Q) December 31, 2020
- Micah Potter -> 18 points (8 out of 15 shots), 11 rebounds, two assists
- Aleem Ford -> 14 points (6 out of 10 shots), three rebounds, two blocks
- D’Mitrik Trice -> 14 points (6 out of 11 shots), five rebounds, five assists
Nº 1: Painting problems -> no problems
Wisconsin made it a priority to enter Minnesota and attack the great man Liam Robbins. While this strategy allowed the Badgers to take the lead at halftime, the team was far from efficient in painting.
In the first half, Wisconsin was able to score 18 points in the painting, but it was only 6 out of 10 in layups, and missed a few close shots that looked like tricks. Those first-half fights quickly disappeared for the Badgers in the second verse, as everything was going well in Wisconsin during the final 20 minutes.
In the second half, the Badgers hit more than 65% of the field, including 66% of the depths, as everything was falling for them.
Minnesota entered this game scoring more than 80 points in 7 of its 10 games.
O #Badgers managed to keep them at 34 points with 22% of shots with just over 8 minutes remaining.
This game is ALL of Wisconsin now.
– Bucky’s 5th quarter (@ B5Q) December 31, 2020
No. 2: Recovery
In the first half, Minnesota was very active in the offensive glass. The Gophers took advantage of some poor rebounds from Wisconsin to secure nine offensive boards and scored eight of their 22 points in second chance opportunities.
Micah Potter was a bright spot in the rebound department for the Badgers, with nine in the first half, including three offensive strikes of his own, but the first half was not very good, as Minnesota beat Wisconsin by five, despite missing seven others pitches.
In the second half, Wisconsin did a much better job in boxing and did enough to beat the Chipmunks. The rebound will still be something to be monitored as the Big Ten game progresses, because allowing 16 offensive exchanges can tip the game if the other team manages to take advantage.
No. 3: D-Fence
Wisconsin did a great job of protecting the ball screens and enlisting the help of defense as they recovered when trying to stop Marcus Carr. Carr is one of the Big Ten’s best guards and entered the Kohl Center with an average of 24 points per game.
D’Mitrik Trice did a great job as Carr’s main defender, but his teammates helped him throughout the game. For the game, Carr went on to finish with 10 points, 14 below the season average.
Wisconsin fought offensively in this game for long periods, but their defense was consistent. The Badgers were able to turn their defensive stops into a few easy buckets and kept Minnesota at a minimum of 59 points of the season.
After the Badgers fought Maryland in the second half on the defensive end of the court, it was a positive development to see how well they recovered against the Gophers.
Defensive streak absolutely beautiful for Wisconsin. Minnesota kicks into “Twist”. Micah establishes a good fence and recovers. Ford jams the roll and runs back into position to protect the second ball screen. Tyler then marks the roll and closes up for the sniper. pic.twitter.com/V3Vq72EpxK
– Badger Film Room (@BadgerFilm) December 31, 2020
Next: Wisconsin is scheduled to return to prime wood on Sunday, January 3, against Penn State Nittany Lions. Tip time is 11am and the game can be viewed on the Big Ten Network.