For all it was worth, the new T-shirts the student section wore should have read “Josh Howard owns the gym” rather than “The Greatful Red,” because it was certainly the case Wednesday night when the Badgers took on the Demon Deacons at the Kohl Center.
Howard, a 6-foot-6 senior small forward, had the game of his career, lighting up the Badgers for 31 points despite seeing only 33 minutes of playing time due to foul trouble. Howard’s previous career best was 24, which he scored against both North Carolina and Maryland.
The All-American candidate showed his versatility from the get-go, beating the Badgers from the outside and inside.
“He shot it pretty well, and he scored in some different ways,” Badger head coach Bo Ryan said. “He scored off the dribble, he scored catching and shooting, and he scored around the offensive boards.”
The Badgers knew of Howard’s ability coming into the contest but were unsure if he would be rusty after missing practices recently due to injury. For the Badgers, there was no such luck.
“I thought [Howard] really seemed fresh,” Ryan said. “I guess he hasn’t practiced all the time because of the prior injury that he had. He really made some things happen for them.”
Throughout the most of the game, the responsibility of guarding Howard fell to Badger guard Freddie Owens. Owens, at 6-foot-2, was giving up at least four inches to the rangy athletic player.
“He is a great player; he is blessed. He is tall, he’s quick, he can rebound; it’s tough guarding him. He is a great player,” Owens said. “His height, even if you cut him off when he goes up to shoot the ball — he can shoot right over you. What is he — 6-7, 6-8? Even when I chest up and get my hands up, he was able to get his shot up and get a good look at the basket because he was so much taller than me.”
Unable to take control: The opening minutes of Wednesday’s game saw the Deacons come out shooting hot and taking an early 9-2 lead just under four minutes into the game. From that point on Wisconsin continually cut into the Wake Forest lead and occasionally held small leads of its own but was never able to get any true separation from the Deacons.
“It was frustrating; we did some things, we’d come down and have a great score, and then on the other end we would give up a layup or an offensive rebound,” guard Devin Harris said. “It would break our backs all over again. It happened all night, and that is kind of how the night went.”
The final Badger push came with about 14 minutes remaining in the second half, when Wisconsin was able to trim what had been as much as a 13-point lead to just three, eventually tying the game on a Kirk Penney three with just under 11 minutes to play. But just as the case had been all evening, Wake Forest was able to answer back.
After trading missed shots for several possessions, Josh Howard hit a clutch three-pointer to break the 59-59 tie, and the Badgers never seriously threatened again.
“When it seemed like we got it going, [Howard] was the guy,” said Ryan.
ACC wins challenge: Wisconsin and Wake Forest were playing in the final game of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, and unbeknownst to the players and coaches on the court, the conferences stood at four wins apiece before Wake tipped the scales in the ACC’s favor with the win.
“I didn’t know it was going on, but as a freshman, we started out against Wisconsin,” Howard said. “I’m going out 4-0 in this challenge, and that was big motivation for me coming in.”
With the loss of this year’s challenge, the Big Ten falls to 0-4 against the ACC since the series began. However, after the game, Wisconsin players certainly didn’t have their minds on that.
“We just take it as a loss; we didn’t take care of business tonight,” Harris said. “We lost our challenge, so we just have to move on.”
