It’s not often a guy from Milwaukee and a guy from New Zealand have a lot in common. But on the court for the UW men’s basketball team, Devin Harris and Kirk Penney share the ability to catalyze the team and ignite the Kohl Center crowd like nobody else.
Never was this more evident than in Wisconsin’s 74-61 victory over Iowa Wednesday night at the Kohl Center. After a lackluster first half in which the Badgers shot just 31 percent from the field, Penney and Harris delivered one dagger after another early in the second half, turning the game around.
The barrage started with a three-pointer by Penney just 51 seconds into the second half. Then he dished to Harris on the right wing for another three following a steal by Alando Tucker. The roaring crowd forced an Iowa timeout, but Penney and Harris were far from finished. Following an Iowa bucket, Penney hammered home yet another three. On the ensuing Hawkeye possession, Harris used his quick hands for a steal and an easy fast-break dunk. In just 2:09, the electrifying antics of Penney and Harris turned a one-point halftime deficit for UW into a 10-point lead. The Kohl Center rafters were shaking and, by then, so was Iowa.
“I thought their guards really dominated our guards,” said Iowa head coach Steve Alford. “They did a nice job of getting out of the gate in the second half and made some shots that they didn’t knock down [in the first half]. Penney and Harris knocked down their first couple shots and that excited them. A big 8-0 run to start the second half, and all of a sudden we’re on our heels and they’re excited.”
“We’re always trying to be aggressive, and going into halftime I think maybe we rushed a little bit and didn’t let it come,” said Penney. “But coming out in the second half we executed so much better, and the results spoke for themselves.”
As the only senior on the team, Penney has been entrenched in both the leadership and catalyst roles for a couple years now. Like the quiet sharpshooter in your father’s Westerns, he is always lurking stealthily around the corner to do his damage and then disappear. He can be awfully silent sometimes, but he will inflict his damage in bunches before the other team can get a handle on him. And when things aren’t going well, he seems to show very little signs of frustration.
This served him well against Iowa, as he shook off a one-for-seven first half to nail four second-half threes, all with the help of some timely screens. He finished with 14 points for the game.
“I didn’t think that Kirk would go one for whatever he was in the first half…seven or eight [shots],” said Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. “Sure enough, he shot it better in the second half. When he’s doing that, we get some easy buckets in the paint, it sure makes it a different game.”
While Penney plays the cool-handed assassin, Harris is more like an explosive chemical reaction. He frequently pumps up the crowd and his teammates with his fist-pumping and roof-raising histrionics, which he displayed early in the second half, and the plays he makes are often worthy of another look.
With 7:16 to play in the game Harris broke down court on a three-on-two. He froze a helpless Iowa defender by looking to his left and zipped a smooth no-look pass to Freddie Owens on his right for an easy lay-up. But for all his on-court excitement, Harris seems almost shy off the court. Adjusting to a leadership role as a sophomore point guard still remains a challenge, one he seems ready to conquer.
“What you have to learn as a leader is not just when it’s sunshine, but somebody has to figure out as leader when it’s a blizzard that there’s still things that have to get done,” said Ryan. “And that’s the toughest part about being a younger point guard, it means you have to [lead] in all kinds of weather. It’s a little easier when you’re at home and things start to go well and you get excited.”
Nonetheless, with the explosive abilities and leadership skills of players like Penney, Harris and Owens, who scored 11 second half points against Iowa, the Badgers have shown that cooler heads may prevail when storm clouds roll in over a game.
