For the Wisconsin men’s basketball team, it wasn’t the best start to their season, but the resiliency of these young Badgers ultimately shined through.
After dropping their season opener in a shocking upset to Western Illinois Friday, UW bounced back in a big way against Siena Sunday, hammering the Saints 92-65. Now, with some confidence regained and the early-season jitters put aside, Wisconsin will look to build on their dominating performance when they take on North Dakota at the Kohl Center Tuesday.
Men’s basketball: Career days from Bronson Koenig, Vitto Brown aid in domination of Siena
It will be a quick turnaround for the Badgers, and here’s what you need to know about Wisconsin and North Dakota before Tuesday night’s game:
Wisconsin (1-1)
Projected Starters: G Bronson Koenig (6-foot-4, 20.0 ppg), G Zak Showalter (6-2, 8.0 ppg), F Nigel Hayes (6-8, 15.5 ppg), F Vitto Brown (6-8, 13.5 ppg) and F Ethan Happ (6-9, 6.0 ppg).
Key Reserves: F Charlie Thomas (6-8, freshman), G/F Khalil Iverson (6-5, freshman) and G Jordan Hill (6-3, redshirt sophomore).
The season-opener loss forced the Badgers out of the AP Top 25 and put the team in a position they never imagined they would be in this early on in the regular season. Despite the disappointment, however, there are definitely encouraging signs regarding the team’s position.
Bronson Koenig continues to stay aggressive on offense, and is shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 43 percent from behind the arc on his way to scoring 40 total points through the first two games of the season. Fellow star Nigel Hayes has remained active as well, scoring 31 points through two games and also managing to record a team-high eight assists thus far.
While the Badgers do look somewhat formidable on offense behind their two all-Big Ten performers, defense has been an all-around struggle for the team.
This is especially so in the paint, as the lack of a true interior defender for UW has allowed opponents easier access to the basket than preferred. Ethan Happ is a potential solution to this issue, but the redshirt freshman has been unable to stay out of foul trouble through the first two outings, playing just 18.5 minutes per game.
As a result, true freshmen Khalil Iverson and Charlie Thomas have been forced into larger roles early on, and while their limitations are evident on offense, they have provided great energy on the defensive side of the ball and the boards. Each has recorded 10 rebounds in two games and Iverson currently leads the team with four blocks on the season.
North Dakota (1-0)
North Dakota finished last season with an overall record of 8-22 and 4-14 in the Big Sky, which was tied for worst in the conference.
They’ll look to turn it around this season, and they started with a dominating 99-69 win over Minnesota Morris Friday. In that meeting, they were led by freshman Cortez Seales, who scored a game-high 27 points while shooting an efficient 11-of-15 from the field in his debut.
Seales’ running mate in the backcourt is Corey Baldwin, also a true freshman. Baldwin himself was impressive in his collegiate debut, scoring 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and grabbing six rebounds in 35 minutes. In total, the team consists of seven freshmen — four who played more than 15 minutes in the opener — and will be bringing an inexperienced group of guys onto the Kohl Center floor.
If their season-opener game is any indication of their playing style, North Dakota will look to do a majority of their damage on the inside, as they shot just 23 percent from behind the arc and 55 percent from anything inside.
