Devin Harris struggled throughout Wisconsin’s 94-92 win over Ohio State, but he produced when the Badgers needed him most.
Harris was held scoreless by the OSU defense for most of the contest, with his first point coming on a free-throw with 11:21 left in the second half. With 1:12 left in the second half, Harris, the Badgers’ second leading scorer with 11.7 points per game, had more fouls (four) than points (one). That’s when the true freshman flipped the switch and took over the game for Wisconsin.
After going the length of the court, Harris hit a huge driving layup to put the Badgers up 75-72. He then hit two of two free throws to put the Badgers up by three, 79-76. Mike Wilkinson hit two more free throws before OSU guard Boban Savovic hit a wide-open three-pointer to force overtime.
In overtime, OSU put Harris on the line three separate times, repeatedly testing the freshman’s 79 percent free-throw percentage. He calmly knocked down both free throws in each of his first two trips to line, with the second set of foul shots putting the Badgers up by four points, 93-89.
After Brian Brown knocked down a three-pointer to cut the lead to one, Harris was fouled again with .6 seconds remaining. He hit the first free-throw before alertly missing the second; Ohio State couldn’t gather the rebound in time to get a shot off.
“I politely asked him, ‘Miss the last [free throw],'” said head coach Bo Ryan.
“I had a little help,” Harris said. “I got a couple suggestions in the huddle.”
“I was just concentrating on making the first one, and the second one, I thought it was going in, but it trickled back a little bit,” Harris said with a grin, eliciting a few chuckles from his teammates.
Harris finished with 10 points, hitting eight of 10 foul shots, while making only one of six shots from the field.
“What I like is, he didn’t give [the ball] up when he knew he was going to get fouled,” Ryan said of Harris. “He wanted to get to the free-throw line.”
Love that charity stripe
In their game last Wednesday against Northwestern, the Badgers continually missed foul shots, including the all-important front end of one-and-ones. The Badgers shot a pitiful 43 percent from the charity stripe for the game, which they ended up losing 69-60.
This time, the Badgers won the game from the free-throw line. UW connected on 11 of 14 free throws in overtime alone to hold off the charging Buckeyes, with one of the misses coming intentionally from Devin Harris with .6 seconds left.
In the game the Badgers shattered their season record of 33 free throws attempted, set in their Jan. 5 victory over Illinois. UW took 46 foul shots, hitting 36 of them, a 78 percent clip.
By comparison, OSU attempted 32 foul shots, a substantial total for most games but three less than the Badgers made.
In a stretch lasting from :30 remaining in regulation until 2:26 was left in overtime, Mike Wilkinson connected on seven of nine free-throw attempts, each time extending the Badger lead.
Wilkinson set new career highs for both free throws attempted (16) and made (13).
Tired Badgers
In the overtime win, four Badgers logged over 35 minutes. Kirk Penney set a new career high with 42 minutes, and Freddie Owens tied his career-high of 37 minutes, set during Wisconsin’s double-overtime thriller earlier this year against Temple. Charlie Wills also saw 37 minutes, while Mike Wilkinson played 36 minutes.
“Do you see anything in my biography that says I thought I was smart?” Ryan asked the media. “It wasn’t by design. It’s amazing the things you get in to that you don’t necessarily plan for, and [you see] how resilient these young men are to be able to handle it.”
