Bo Ryan’s swing offense is based on many things ? probing, attacking the defense, sound passing and creating open looks.
Saturday night against Ohio State, UW’s offense was all about getting to the free-throw line.
The Badgers went to the charity stripe a remarkable 38 times, drawing 32 fouls against the Buckeyes and keeping their opponent in almost constant foul trouble.
Wisconsin converted 32 of those attempts for an impressive 84.2 free throw shooting percentage.
Devin Harris, who recorded his third 30-point game of the season, got to the line 18 times compared to just 17 attempts from the Buckeyes.
“It was just being aggressive and getting the ball in the post,” Harris said. “Same thing we did against Iowa, we didn’t get as many calls there, but fortunately at home we get a few more calls. We (created) a lot of offensive fouls today (for the Buckeyes) and just getting those guys in foul trouble and being aggressive.”
For Buckeye head coach Jim O’Brien, the foul trouble made for a frustrating evening, trying to compensate for a startling line that became burdened with personals after earning an early lead.
“We had to take a bunch of guys out, and we have to play with certain guys, and they were all in foul trouble,” O’Brien said. “We have three starters on the bench with two fouls each and at that point (Wisconsin) had only committed one foul.”
The Buckeyes were seemingly sandwiched, unable to get physical on the defensive side while being wary of getting too aggressive on the attack as the Badgers seemed to draw offensive fouls against the Buckeyes at will.
The trouble became such a problem for Ohio State that junior point guard Brandon Fuss-Cheatham fouled out just 5:15 into the second half. Senior center Velimir Radinovic followed, fouling out with 3:41 remaining. Senior forward Terrence Dials and sophomore guard Ricardo Billings were each charged with four fouls apiece.
“They were very aggressive,” Ryan said of the Buckeyes. “We were smart enough to probe and attack the lane and attack the basket with good use of fakes, pump fakes, and that’s how you get (to the line).”
Ryan didn’t just credit Harris’ career night from the line as just the product of a personal performance, but put most of the credit to Harris’ teammates.
“Look at how many of (Harris’ points) he had from the free-throw line,” Ryan said. “That was his teammates spreading the floor. His teammates obviously get some attention defensively, if he didn’t have teammates around him that couldn’t help him offensively, he’s to going to get that many, so that’s all a part of the spacing in the offense and his efficiency that keeps getting better each year.”
Harris’ improved efficiency, which has carried him into the national elite during the past month, is a product of his basketball intelligence which has been well-tested and ingeniously utilized in Ryan’s system.
“If somebody is going to overplay you real hard you’ve got to attack a shoulder and get them to turn and bump you a little bit and you can get some fouls that way,” Ryan said. “That’s how Devin got to the line quite a bit; he was drawing a lot of hands. You draw hands because they think you are going to get to the rim. We were patient enough to get it to places where you look for fouls.”
