The Badger Herald

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Wildcats keep Badgers off their game

JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo

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Also by Mike Ackerstein:

Curry leaves UW with upset stomach (March 31, 2008)
Cinderella up next for UW (March 28, 2008)
Why outsource MLB's opener? (March 27, 2008)

by Mike Ackerstein

Monday, March 31, 2008

DETROIT — The jerseys still said “Wisconsin” Friday, but the team wearing them didn’t look like the Badgers. As a second-half collapse doomed UW in its Sweet 16 loss to Davidson, nothing about the team seemed right.

Wisconsin came into the game riding a 12-game winning streak, the last five of which came in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. In the first two rounds of the Big Dance Wisconsin had averaged a 16-point margin of victory, but against Davidson the Badgers fell apart, losing by 17 points. The double-digit defeat was the biggest since Duke pounded Wisconsin in November.

“It got away from us,” forward Greg Stiemsma said. “We didn’t stick to our roles or the things we’ve been doing well for the last couple of weeks, and it hurt us.”

The nation’s best scoring defense during the regular season, Wisconsin uncharacteristically allowed Davidson’s Stephen Curry to score 33 points against them — the highest by an opponent this season.

In its second-round game, Wisconsin kept Kansas State from making a single 3-pointer. Davidson, however, knocked down 12 threes, the most an opponent has hit against UW all year.

Things weren’t much better on the offensive end.

Despite having a notable size advantage, UW was actually outscored in the paint 22-18 over the course of the game and outrebounded by Davidson in the second half.

“They really pressured the ball and kept us from really getting the ball in the post,” forward Marcus Landry said. “We’ve seen that before. We didn’t really execute as well as we have in the past.”

Without the ability to get it to the rim, Wisconsin never really found a rhythm on offense. From the outset the Badgers stopped getting the ball in the post as much as they usually did, instead shooting 17 first half 3-pointers and turning the game into a shooting contest with the Wildcats.

“They really went to the three ball very quickly rather than staying in the swing,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. “That allowed us to get into the open court.”

Quick misses made it possible for Davidson to get good looks in transition and was part of the reason for the Wildcats’ 18 fast break points.

Wisconsin also struggled with the full-court pressure that Davidson applied. The Wildcat attack made it difficult for the Badgers to settle in to an offense and helped to force 12 UW turnovers.

“They got us in situations we didn’t want to be in,” forward Joe Krabbenhoft said. “They got us running around against their press, and you have to give them credit for taking us out of what we do best.”

Even when Wisconsin started to show signs of its old self, drawing fouls and cutting the Davidson lead down to a single possession in the second half, UW was unable to keep it up for very long.

“They really outworked us, out-scrapped us,” Landry said. “We tried to pull it back. We had it back within three, but we kind of got away from doing some things.”

With its hustle and confidence in a system, Davidson was able to win by, simply put, beating Wisconsin at its own game.

“They outplayed us,” Krabbenhoft said. “It seemed like they were outrebounding us. Getting loose balls on the glass. Getting to the free-throw line. A lot of things we like to do they just did better tonight.”

Hurt by Hughes’ injury

Perhaps the biggest difference for Wisconsin was the absence of guard Trevon Hughes. Hughes, coming off of a career-high 25-point effort against Kansas State, hurt himself early in the first half Friday and, minus a brief four-minute stretch in the second half, was forced to sit the rest of the game.

“It wouldn’t have been a bad thing to have a penetrator, a guy who could take care of it,” Badger coach Bo Ryan said. “And, unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to contribute.”

Hughes finished the game scoreless in 12 minutes of action.

“I really wish Trevon had been healthy,” Ryan said. “It would have been a better game.”

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