After dropping a disappointing road game at Minnesota, head coach Bo Ryan and the Badgers look to regroup and find their form at home against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Against the Gophers Saturday, Bo Ryan went with his smaller lineup to try and beat the Gophers’ full-court press. The three-guard configuration struggled as Wisconsin committed 17 turnovers and managed to shoot only 32 percent from the field. In Wisconsin’s 15 wins, the Badgers have averaged only 10.9 turnovers, compared to 16.0 turnovers per game in its five losses. Despite this, Coach Ryan says the best five players, whatever lineup that gives UW the best chance to win, will be the ones to start.
“I always go with players, [regardless of position],” Ryan said. “Whether to call them forwards, guards or centers, I have never worried about that. I try to go with the best players and then bring in as good, if not better, players off the bench. The guys that are playing are the guys that matter. Their title, as far as they get introduced, doesn’t matter to me. I just put the best five guys out there that I think can get the job done.”
No Longer Piercing: Through the end of December, Iowa was one of the hottest teams in the nation, winning 12 of its first 13 games and garnering a ranking as high as 14th in the AP Poll. Since then however, the Hawkeyes have struggled posting a 3-5 conference record, and are winless away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where they have a .777 winning percentage lifetime. Despite this, Iowa still ranks in the top three in the Big Ten in scoring (76.2 ppg), 3-point field goal percentage (38 percent) and rebounding (36.3 a game). To make matters worse, the Hawkeyes permanently dismissed their star junior guard Pierre Pierce for violating team rules and conduct last week.
Coincidentally, the Badgers have gone through a similar situation with the departure of Boo Wade from the team in mid-December. However, Wade left the team and the university citing personal reasons. Even with the Hawkeyes’ star player done for the season, Ryan knows that this is a huge opportunity for Iowa’s bench players to make an impact.
“Every team has gone through [losing a player],” Ryan said. “We might have set a record my senior year in high school for having the most guys get kicked off the team. It started out in study hall when the vice principal came in and said, ‘Hey ‘Onions’ McClain, come here. You haven’t gone to Algebra since the semester started, you are off the team.’ About three nights later, the head coach spots Bugsy Pierce standing on the street corner with a bottle of wine and a cigar. Coach pulled up and said, ‘Bugsy, that you?’ Apparently, Bugsy was like, ‘Yeah, who’s that? … Coach!’ [Next day,] Bugsy was off the team.”
Helmigk working hard: With Coach Ryan going with a quicker, more agile lineup over the past four games, senior center Andreas Helmigk has been on the short end of the stick. Over the past four games, Helmigk is averaging less than 10 minutes per game and has been held scoreless twice. Despite seeing his numbers decline from last season, the senior from Klagenfurt, Austria has shown improvements in his rebounding and limiting his turnovers. Additionally, Ryan commented that Andreas is always working to improve himself and the team as a whole.
“Andreas has that spirit in him where he’s like, “OK, whatever you say coach,'” Ryan said. “He’s matched up well against some teams and not as well against some other teams. He has had some injuries that he’s had to deal with, and he just keeps practicing and working hard. You always have to like that about people. There are some people that can’t go through a routine everyday and perform hard. I have said this before. To do what they do everyday with some guys getting more minutes than others … they are pretty special, especially with Andreas.”
