Lucas’ 3-Pointers: Wisconsin vs. Minnesota
December 31, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
Three things to know as the Badgers host their Border Battle rivals
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — The Badgers host Big Ten and Border Battle rival Minnesota on Thursday at the Kohl Center. Here are three things to know:
1. B.Y.O.E. (Bring Your Own Energy)
Maryland's Mark Turgeon conducted an unconventional film review after the Terrapins lost at home (Dec. 14) in their Big Ten opener to Rutgers. Instead of breaking down just clips of the action on the floor, standard operating procedure, Turgeon showed how both sidelines reacted during the game. Whereas the Scarlet Knights responded enthusiastically to baskets and defensive stops, Turgeon's bench paled by comparison exhibiting little emotion and excitement, a sore point for the veteran coach. Under normal circumstances, this would be routinely dismissed as a non-essential act. Turgeon, in fact, told the Washington Post, "It's not going to determine the outcome. But it's going to make things a lot more fun during the course of it."
In this context, energy, however generated, is a precious commodity in near empty venues, sans fans, bands and cheerleaders. On Monday, Maryland had more energy than the Badgers and played harder for longer stretches.
"We came out kind of flat," said senior D'Mitrik Trice. "We really didn't stick to the game plan that we wanted, which was to establish the post early and it came back to bite us, especially in the second half."
At one point in that half, Turgeon added fuel to his player's fire by smashing a whiteboard, a bit theatrical but effective. Wisconsin coach Greg Gard admitted, "We never were in sync … I thought we were a step slow all night at both ends of the floor."
Gard recognized that the Terps had gotten better over the last two weeks or since losing to Clemson in the Big Ten-ACC challenge — "It's a team that was obviously energized because they were hungry" — and he also knew Maryland's small lineup had the potential to cause matchup problems because "Anytime you have that many ball-handlers on the floor it puts you in a position where you end up exchanging a lot of things and playing different combinations." Aleem Ford made it clear what needs to happen moving forward starting with Minnesota, "We need to be more aggressive in the way we play and in the way we approach the game." B.Y.O.E.
2. A Steady Diet of Feeding the Post
On the UW's opening offensive possession against the Terps, Gard saw something that he didn't like, something that didn't bode well for how the game might play out. The Badgers first field-goal attempt was from behind the 3-point line. It wasn't that the shot missed. Rather it was the shot selection given a better option.
Lamented Gard, "We had (Micah) Potter open inside or a guy on his back and we ended up taking a 3." It was a developing storyline ("I thought we had guys open, we talked about it in multiple timeouts, we talked about it at halftime," Gard said) and it was never fully corrected. Gard reflected, "Whether it's not seeing it, not trusting it to throw it, that's part of it, too. Confidence has to flow both ways … if that passer trusts that the receiver is open."
The Terps, who were often using 6-foot-7 Donta Scott at the 5, deserve credit for keeping the ball out of the paint. As a result, the UW's frontline didn't attempt a free throw. Said Ford, "I felt they did a good job of mixing it up on us to where we couldn't really get into the rhythm that we wanted to offensively. But we've got to adjust on the fly and pretty much stick to our schemes and touch the paint. We got away from that and got a little three-happy."
Meanwhile, the Gophers will offer a true low-post defender and scorer in 7-foot, 235-pound Liam Robbins, a transfer from Drake, who has taken over for 6-10 Daniel Oturu, now with the L.A. Clippers. Robbins has scored double-figures in six straight games, including 18 apiece in wins over Iowa and Michigan State. He has 11 blocked shots over the last three. And he has shown the ability to get to the free throw line. He was 12-of-14 from the stripe against Kansas City and 7-of-9 against the Hawkeyes. Robbins is an interesting study in that he weighed almost 300 pounds as a high school senior in Davenport, Iowa and dropped nearly 70 pounds to play college hoops. In the process, he reshaped his body and game to where he's a legitimate force inside.
3. Staying On Point
Two of the Big Ten's top point guards, Trice and Minnesota's Marcus Carr, will be on display at the Kohl Center. Carr, a former prep school teammate of Micah Potter at Montverde Academy (Florida), has scored 20 or more points six times this season, topped by 35 against Green Bay, 32 against Saint Louis and 30 against Iowa (during which he drained a clutch triple in the closing seconds to send the game into overtime).
Besides getting his own shot from a variety of spots on the floor and getting to the free-throw line with regularity, Carr is also leading the conference in assists (6.1). In last season's win over the Badgers in the Barn, he caused major issues by breaking down the defense with dribble penetration resulting in 10 helpers. Presently, Carr, a Toronto, Ontario, native, is the only Division I player averaging at least 21 points (24.0) and six assists while shooting 48 percent from the field. Trice will have his hands full. So will Carr considering that Trice has made 15 of his last 28 shots in scoring 29 against Michigan State and 25 against Maryland. Trice has played a team-high 288 minutes with 32 assists and only 13 turnovers.
Coming off the loss to the Terps, Trice emphasized, "Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. Nobody is feeling sorry in the locker room or within our team. We just have to get back to the drawing board … take what coach has to say and we just have to learn from it … we obviously have a lot of shooters and a lot of guys who can spread the floor and attack the rim. But it's being able to get it into the post and establish that post presence early in the game and that will set the tone …"
