SPORTS
Bohannon continues scoring tear
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Also by Greg Schmitz:
- WCHA's 2nd spot on line (February 22, 2008)
- Badgers' ranking needs (February 19, 2008)
- Wisconsin women's hockey blanks Bemidji State (February 18, 2008)
- UW wraps up home slate (February 15, 2008)
Related Stories:
- Bohannon catches fire from deep (February 14, 2008)
- Fresh faces lead the way (February 26, 2007)
- Points at premium as Wisconsin faces Iowa (February 6, 2008)
- Bohannon: no typical freshman (February 6, 2007)
- 'Boo'hannon laughs last in return (January 29, 2007)
by Greg Schmitz
Monday, February 25, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sophomore Jason Bohannon continued his emergence as a legitimate scoring threat in Wisconsin’s 58-53 win over Ohio State Sunday.
Bohannon reached double digits in points for the fifth straight game with his game-high 16 points and is averaging 14.8 points per game over that stretch.
“He’s played pretty well,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “He’s a guy that’s opportunistic, not a lot of wasted motion. He’s not the quickest guy. He’s doesn’t jump that high or anything else. He’s just a good, smart basketball IQ player.
“He’s been able to find some pretty good looks and knock them down.”
Following two first-half layups, Bohannon went back to what he has done best over the last five games: hitting the three. After hitting a personal best six 3-pointers against Indiana, Bohannon was good from behind the arc four times against OSU. While he hasn’t done anything different with his game, Bohannon attributes his recent scoring surge to just being more willing to put up the ball.
“Just taking open shots when it’s there, working the offense,” Bohannon said. “The big guys are kicking out a lot of times. It’s kind of spilling on one thing from another. It’s kind of helped my confidence a little bit.”
The emergence of Bohannon also helped Wisconsin inside against the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s zone defense was causing problems for Wisconsin’s big men in the first half, but a late three by Bohannon gave the Badgers the lead. It also reminded the Buckeyes what Bohannon is capable of from behind the arc, thus forcing OSU to stretch its zone defense out more.
“When he’s hitting his shots, he makes the zone come out even further and that opens up the middle,” junior Marcus Landry said. “Later on in the game we got some layups in the middle of the paint. It helps us out a lot because they have to focus on him so much that it opens up some other things.”
Butch reaches 1,000 points
Coming into the game, senior forward Brian Butch needed eight points to become the 32nd Badger to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Despite playing only 18 minutes because of early foul trouble and not playing his best on the offensive end, Butch joined the 1,000-point club with his jumper with 6:25 remaining in the game that pushed Wisconsin’s lead to five. Butch now has 1,001 points for his career.
“Brian struggled on a couple of looks when we got the ball, but I’d like to mention on behalf of the team and the program that puts him over a thousand,” Ryan said. “What Brian’s been through and all he’s done, I joked in the locker room, ‘Well, Brian, it only took you six years.’
“He’s persevered a lot and that’s quite an accomplishment.”
For Butch to top the 1,000-point mark in Columbus was extra sweet for him as last time these two teams faced at Value City Arena last season, Butch dislocated and fractured his elbow and ended his season early. But the most important thing for Butch was that his team got the win.
“It kind of changes things from the last time we were here,” Butch said. “It’s a pretty unique thing to go through and to do it in a win is the most important thing to me. If anybody knows me, that’s what I’m all about.”
Defense forces turnovers
Watching the first half of the game, nobody would have guessed that both teams have done a good job protecting the ball this year.
Despite shooting over 50 percent from the field in the first half against an Ohio State defense that has held its opponents to 37.8 percent from the field for the year, Wisconsin trailed for most of the half and entered the locker room tied. The Buckeyes’ zone defense put pressure on the Badgers from the opening tip, forcing Wisconsin — which averages 12.7 turnovers a game — to turn the ball over 12 times.
On the other end of the floor, Wisconsin was able to stay in the game by forcing Ohio State to cough up the ball 10 times.
“We had some stupid mistakes [Sunday] with the ball and everything,” Bohannon said. “Coach Ryan stressed at halftime that we won’t make those mistakes in the second half.”
In the second half, UW protected the ball better with only three turnovers, two of which came in the last six minutes when OSU started pressuring because it was down.
The Badgers kept the pressure on the Buckeyes and caused them to turn it over five times in the second half, which Bohannon credited as one of the reasons UW came away with the win.
“In the second half, we started moving the ball a little better, started getting some open looks and stretching their zone a little more,” Bohannon said. “Then we started taking care of the ball, and it really helps us out getting a few extra shots at the basket.”
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