For the first time in 11 years, the 20th-ranked Wisconsin men’s basketball team will open its regular season away from the Kohl Center in a neutral-site matchup against St. John’s in Sioux Falls, S.D. Friday.
History is on Wisconsin’s side having won 11-straight season openers, sitting 3-0 all-time against St. John’s including an 80-70 win in the first round of the 2000 NCAA tournament in its last meeting.
Wisconsin is coming off an 80-51 win in an exhibition with UW-Platteville last Wednesday where senior guard Ben Brust led all scorers with 20 points.
Despite winning by 29, the Badgers got off to a slow start against the Pioneers hitting 1-11 shots from deep and entered halftime with only a 7-point lead over their Division III opponent. That is a fate Wisconsin is looking to avoid Friday.
“You definitely don’t want to dig yourself in a hole against a team of St. John’s’ caliber because they can light it up,” Brust said. “We have to hop off that plane and have a good day and then get some rest and be ready to go as soon as the ball’s tipped.”
St. John’s is no cupcake to ease into the season for Wisconsin as the Red Storm are receiving votes in the AP poll and are considered by some to be a dark horse team coming out of the new-look Big East Conference.
St. John’s, led by fourth-year head coach and former ESPN analyst Steve Lavin, went 17-16 and finished 11th in the conference last season, but is returning all its starters and are a force in the paint.
“They have a lot of different weapons,” Wisconsin assistant head coach Greg Gard said. “They are extremely talented. They can play a little bigger. They can play a little smaller if they need to. They’ve got a lot of good pieces and it all starts with guard play and their guards are really good.”
One of those guards for St. John’s is junior D’Angelo Harrison, who averaged 17.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
Another of the Red Storm’s weapons is sophomore center Chris Obekpa who, standing at 6-foot-9, led the country in average blocks per game with 4.03.
Obekpa missed St. John’s’ two exhibition games after being suspended by the team for a violation of university policy but is expected to play against Wisconsin Friday.
The Badgers may look to a young big man of their own in freshman forward Nigel Hayes at 6-foot-7, 250-pounds to help control Obekpa and the rest of the St. John’s front court.
“Me being a little stronger, hopefully, I can cause some problems down-low with moving people on hard fronts,” Hayes said. “Hopefully that can help us in the paint and rebounding. That’s always a good thing to do.”
Although St. John’s has four players on its roster that are 6-foot-8 or taller and see regular minutes, Wisconsin is still expected to roll out three guards — Traevon Jackson, Josh Gasser and Brust — in its starting lineup, valuing experience over height.
“The biggest thing for us is it gives us some experience with having Josh at the three,” Gard said. “With his experience, I think it kind of negates some of the size disadvantage that we might have and allows us to play a little fast in transition because you have another ball handler on the floor too. It also creates some decision making for defenses with Sam [Dekker] at the four because he can be a mismatch problem.”
Wisconsin’s rotations are still a work in progress, with redshirt sophomore guard George Marshall, redshirt junior forward Duje Dukan and Hayes expected to get the most minutes off the bench to start the season.
“The guys that produce day-in and day-out and the most effective in practice are the guys that are going to get opportunities in the game,” Gard said. “The minutes that are going to be given are the ones that are earned.”
After the way Wisconsin’s year ended last season with a heart-wrenching loss to Ole Miss in Kansas City, the Badgers are more than ready to travel to South Dakota and start playing meaningful games again.
“I’m just ready to play someone else and I’m sure everyone else is too,” Brust said. “I’m just ready go, I want to get there and get that ball tipped.”
