They won, but looking at the first half, the Badgers sure have a lot to work on.
There were many positive aspects to take away from the Badgers’ 64-47 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Tuesday night, but one detail that couldn’t go unnoticed was Wisconsin’s struggles in the paint.
In the first half, the Badgers outrebounded a severely undersized Whitewater team by a mere margin of 12-11. They had only 10 points in the paint compared to the Warhawks’ 8. Wisconsin’s starting forwards — Keaton Nankivil and Marcus Landry — combined for four shots in the first frame.
Although it was a game against a D-III school, that didn’t keep Whitewater from playing with intensity. Going into the second half, the Badgers held just a three-point lead.
“We really wanted to pressure the ball around the perimeter,” UW-Whitewater head coach Pat Miller said. “I thought our perimeter people helped our post people a lot, and when [Wisconsin] did get it inside, we wanted them to have to score over us and not give them any lanes.”
In the first half, the strategy worked for the Warhawks, as they held the Badgers to just nine field goals and kept the pressure on the home team. It wasn’t until midway through the second half that Wisconsin began to take control of the paint.
With UW head coach Bo Ryan shuffling between forwards Nankivil and Jon Leuer, the Badgers soon forced Whitewater into foul trouble, which subsequently opened up shooting lanes and allowed Wisconsin to out-rebound the Warhawks by 16 in the second half.
“Whitewater gave us all they had,” Ryan said. “In the end, because I felt we were working their shooters pretty well, it’s tough to shoot a pretty high percentage if you start to wear down some. … That’s how we ended up getting it done. … When you play a team like that, the only way you’re going to beat them is by wearing them down.”
In the second half, Wisconsin changed gears and was able to dominate the paint. Landry and Nankivil combined for 12 rebounds after halftime — more than the entire Whitewater team. Forward Joe Krabbenhoft also added five second-half rebounds to the mix and finished the game with 12 points.
“In the first half … I think we passed up some post touches,” Landry said. “In the second half, I think more of our touches in the post came off of offensive rebounds. It wasn’t really us getting the ball to the guys in the paint; it was more guys driving to the lane and trying to make plays.”
Even after winning the game and dominating the paint in the second half, Landry and Krabbenhoft know the effort put forth in the first half won’t be sufficient against more powerful teams.
“For the most part, I think it’s something that we have to work on as a team.” Landry said. “There’s always room for improvement. I and the rest of my teammates have to get better.”
“We’ve got a lot of potential on this team,” Krabbenhoft added. “We’re going to get back to the basics and break down this game and improve.”
Despite the struggle, Ryan feels he learned something new about his team and about what it takes to win games.
“What I can say about the win is they found a way,” Ryan said. “They’re kind of like the team that has a bigger offensive line and you kind of wear the other team down, and we finally did inside.”
