In the sports world, Thanksgiving may best be known for time spent on the gridiron, but the hardwood will also see its fair share of action over the holiday weekend.
The Wisconsin men’s basketball team travels to Orlando, Fla. for the fifth edition of the Old Spice Classic, which tips off Thanksgiving Day and continues until Sunday.
The Badgers (2-1) are scheduled to meet with Manhattan (2-1) on Thursday and will play two other games over the course of the weekend.
Also participating in the tournament includes Boston College, California, Georgia, Notre Dame, No. 20 Temple and Texas A&M.
Wisconsin will look to rebound from a disappointing 68-65 showing against UNLV last Saturday in which late-game mishaps by UW proved to be critical in the eventual loss.
Down by one point, after missing two shots in which Wisconsin could have retaken the lead and with less than a minute remaining, UW attempted to inbound the ball but sophomore Mike Bruesewitz’s pass went intercepted by Justin Hawkins for UNLV’s eighth steal of the night.
Hawkins made both free throws at the other end and the Badgers never recovered.
“I think we got a little out of character with some things and as we went back and watched some film there were a lot of things that were very atypical of how we usually play,” assistant head coach Greg Gard said.
Despite winning the rebounding contest 37-29, the Badgers committed 15 turnovers to which the Rebels translated into 13 points. Wisconsin also took a dip in shooting percentage, converting on just 36.5 percent from the field and 30 percent from the arc.
UNLV, meanwhile, shot 49 and 50 percent, respectively.
“I’d say it’s humbling,” redshirt sophomore Jared Berggren said. “We went to work at practice [this week] and nobody was hanging their heads, we’re ready to work, we’re ready for the next one.”
Although Manhattan enters the weekend coming off of a 91-80 loss at the hands of Long Island last Saturday, the Jaspers have maintained a hot hand so far this season as five players, including four starters, are shooting 41.2 from the field.
Guards Michael Alvarado and Kidani Brutus have carried the team from beyond the arc, however, as only one other player has converted on a single three-pointer. Nevertheless, Alvarado and Brutus are hitting 42.9 and 47.4 from the deep range.
Although Manhattan is coming off of two consecutive losing seasons and hail from a lackluster conference, Gard knows not to look past the kinds of players the Jaspers bring to the court
“They’re extremely quick, a lot of New York City guards that, one-on-one, can beat anybody so we’re going to have to play really well as a team, we’re going to have to make it a five-on-five scenario defensively,” he said. “A lot of those guys are from New York City so they won’t be intimidated in any way, they’ve seen a lot of good teams on their schedule throughout the years.”
With the level of competition beginning to steadily increase as the season continues, head coach Bo Ryan and his team will need to piece together any inconsistencies in order to enjoy their holiday weekend.
And although the loss at UNLV may prove to be a valuable learning experience later in the season, Ryan isn’t necessarily allowing his team to just rely on that fact.
“Coach Ryan would probably say we’re not a team of moral victories, we’re a team of results but at the same time you can always learn from a game, win or lose,” senior forward Keaton Nankivil said. “There’s a lot of stuff we can take from it so hopefully in the future the closer games that we’re in we’ll figure out how to learn from that game and use it in the future.”
