The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will welcome Houston Baptist to the Kohl Center for their match tomorrow night.
The Badgers are coming off an impressive road win against the Xavier Musketeers, where they scored 40 points within the paint. In addition to the low-post success, Wisconsin was also shooting 56.3 percent on 3-pointers.
The Badgers will be looking for more production from the bench in the upcoming game against the Huskies, as only five players made the box score, with the Badger big three of Ethan Happ, D’Mitrik Trice and Brad Davison combined for 71 points.
Houston Baptist is 1–1 following their three-point victory over Fordham. The leading scorer for the Huskies averaging 13.5 points and two assists per game is Ian DuBose, a 6 foot 4 guard out of Durham North Carolina.
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Houston Baptist started their season with a trip down to Tuscon Arizona where they got routed by the Wildcats 90–60. The Huskies had major difficulty defending anything down low as they let the Wildcats put up 42 points in the paint. The Badger front court led by the forward Happ will look to take advantage of the Huskies’ weak low-post presence.
Happ is averaging 20 points per game while shooting 60 percent from the field, with all of his production coming from the low-post. Here the forward is also dominating the glass with 12 rebounds per game. Even if the Huskies can give Happ trouble in the low-post, he will be looking for open shooters on the perimeter, which he has been adept in finding his first two games, averaging 8.5 assists.
Wisconsin’s starters are shooting 67.7 percent from beyond the arc this season, making 21 of 31 3-point field goals. If Wisconsin can connect from long-distance, that will force teams to retreat from double teaming Happ in the low-post and play straight up man to man defense.
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Once teams go man to man on the Badgers it creates mismatch nightmares that Happ can take advantage of all day long. In the upcoming game against Houston Baptist, Happ will be matched up with the 6-foot-10, 245-pound center Edward Hardt, who’s averaging seven points per game on 46 percent shooting in the early season. As long as players like Trice and Davidson stay consistent with their jumpers, Happ should have a field day down in the low-post.
The Badgers take on the Huskies Saturday at 7 p.m. with live television coverage available on the Big Ten Network and radio play by play on the Badger Sports Network, 100.9 FM.
