The last time the they faced Michigan, the Badgers virtually shut down the Wolverines’ star guard Manny Harris, holding him to only nine points on 3-of-13 shooting.
But on Sunday in Wisconsin’s 60-55 win over Michigan, Harris and the Wolverines’ other star player, DeShawn Sims, notched a combined 32 points, keeping the Badgers busy all night on the defensive end.
What kept the Badgers in the game, however, was their all around team defense, which held the Wolverines to 42.9 percent throughout the game. But perhaps the most impressive aspect of the defensive performance was the Badgers’ play in the second half, which held the Wolverines to 30.8 percent from the field and only 1-for-10 from three-point range.
Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan addressed the team’s strong defensive play, despite allowing big games from Harris and Sims. He also said that while Michigan’s duo had strong performances, they could have been much better.
“You know instead of looking and 15 and 17 (points), we could be looking at 27 and 25, that’s what some team looked at the last time they played Michigan,” Ryan said. “[Harris and Sims] are capable of putting up numbers like that.”
Defensively, UW forwards Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry were matched up with Harris and Sims, respectively. On Michigan’s first possession, Sims attempted to post up Landry, who subsequently blocked Sims’ attempt at the hoop. Landry believed that play set the tone defensively in the post all game.
“[Sims] just came off a big game,” Landry said. “He was really feeling it and I was just trying to play defense. … He played great, it’s just my job to try and limit his touches in the post.”
With Landry covering Sims, Krabbenhoft was forced to guard Harris, the Big Ten’s top scorer. Even though Krabbenhoft allowed Harris to score 15 points, Michigan coach John Beilein was impressed with Krabbenhoft’s defensive performance.
“I thought Manny did a great job, [Krabbenhoft] does a great job on everybody,” Beilein said. “He’s got good enough feet and he’s playing for Bo. … He’s 6-foot-7. With that feet, he can get distance on someone like Manny and then still keep him from getting into the lane. He’s done a great job on almost every occasion.”
While the Badgers were able to hold Harris to single digit points in their first matchup, they allowed other role Wolverine role players to do the necessary damage to keep Michigan in the game. In that match, Michigan’s Zack Novak scored 20 points to lead the Wolverines in scoring, knocking down five 3-pointers to keep Wisconsin in check. Also, Laval Lucas-Perry tallied 11 points in the Wisconsin win.
“Defensively, you try to [stop Harris and Sims],” Ryan said. “But when you have guys like Novak, and you got (Stu) Douglass, and you got (C.J.) Lee, and you got those guys that can shoot the threes, where do you get the help from?”
Yesterday, the Badgers got the help on the other Wolverines despite allowing the 32 points from Harris and Sims. The highest scoring player aside from the two stars was Lee, who scored nine points.
Overall, Ryan was pleased with his team’s defensive performance. He remarked that while Harris and Sims both reached their scoring averages, the team’s overall defensive performance in disallowing the duo to have outstanding games led to a Badger victory.
“That’s the challenge,” Ryan said. “The fact that … between the two, Manny 5-for-14, that’s almost 33 percent, and Sims shooting 50 percent. So maybe between the two of them, if they shoot 40 percent, we’re pretty doggone happy, considering what they’ve done to some teams. As long as someone else isn’t going crazy.”
