Lucas: Freshman duo stabilizing UW backcourt
November 30, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
Hepburn and Bowman are learning, succeeding on the fly
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft strolled on to the floor and delivered a short message on ball screen scenarios to freshman point guard Chucky Hepburn who was taking warmup shots prior to the start of the second half against Houston last Tuesday in Las Vegas.Â
"They were trying to speed him up," Krabbenhoft had noted. "So, I kept telling him, 'You can't play at 100 miles per hour all the time. You've got to go from 0 to 100 to 40 to 70. So just keep changing your speed. Give them different looks. Make them think about different things.' He's pretty smart."
On their brief but instructive conversation, Hepburn acknowledged, "I just needed to be smarter on ball screens. I'm kind of new to this thing. I'm still thinking I can beat everyone off the ball screen. I need to learn how to control my pace and change my pace as well."
It was another learning moment for Hepburn who has proven to be an attentive listener and quick study. Since earning a spot in the starting lineup against St. Francis of Brooklyn – the first true freshman to start a season opener since Devin Harris in 2001 – he has been adjusting his game.
"I'm a little shaky at times but my confidence is really high," said Hepburn, the 2020 Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year at Bellevue West High School (just outside of Omaha). "I'm still trying to figure my part on offense. But my first part is defense because I know defense leads to offense."
Although he has yet to have more than three fouls in any one game, he admitted, "My number one concern was probably how I was going to adjust to playing defense without fouling. I was able to get away with a lot of stuff in high school. Nobody knows me in college, so I had to adjust my ways."
Hepburn was the principle defender on Houston's leading scorer Marcus Sasser, the only returning starter from the Cougar's 2021 Final Four team. Hepburn helped limit Sasser to only three points in the first half (1-of-4 field goals) as the Badgers jumped out to a commanding 40-20 lead.
On forcing Sasser into one of his four turnovers in the final seconds of the half, Hepburn explained, "We just needed a stop. If they would have scored there, they would have probably had momentum going into the second half. I knew I had to lock in and get a stop on defense.
"I sat down that morning and watched film on him, and I saw how aggressive he was on offense and how good he was off ball screens. I was able to watch that and feed off that. I'm new to the game, he really doesn't know who I am, so I was just trying to give him different looks."
Going into the matchup, based on his film study and confidence on the defensive end, Hepburn had no inhibitions, "My composure never changes. I've always known that about myself and that my defense is at a really high level. I just wanted to learn how I could defend on a higher level.'"
Â
The Badgers held on to beat No. 12 ranked Houston, 65-63. Sasser finished with 11 points (4-12) well under his average prompting UW assistant Sharif Chambliss to observe, "Chucky just played against one of the best guards in the country, hands-down. Sasser is a tough kid. You learn from that."
Others are finding out about Hepburn's toughness through his calling card: on-ball defense.
"I've always played physical," said the 6-2, 211-pound Hepburn who had 324 career steals for the Bellevue West Thunderbirds. "Back in the summer before I came on campus, I played against professionals and other Division I players so I kind of knew what to expect."
Hepburn has worked out with former Creighton University players like Khyri Thomas, a two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year and 2018 second round draft choice of the Philadelphia 76ers; and Justin Patton, a Big East Freshman of the Year and 2017 first round pick of the Chicago Bulls.
"They know the physicality," Hepburn said of Thomas (now in Spain) and Patton (Israel). "When I was a sophomore, I used to play pickup ball with the Creighton players (their campus is in Omaha), and I got a feeling of what it's like so it's not all new to me. But I'm adjusting at a different level."
Hepburn has started all six games and logged the second most minutes (175) behind fifth-year senior Brad Davison (185). Sophomore Johnny Davis, who missed the Providence game with an injury, has the highest per game average (31.6 minutes) following by Davison (30.7) and Hepburn (29.2).
Not unlike Hepburn's transition, another true freshman point guard, Lorne Bowman II, a Detroit area product of Orchard Lake St. Mary's program, is coming off the bench (averaging 12 minutes) and making many of the same adjustments to the tempo, physicality and nuances of the college game.
Trailing Saint Mary's of California, 37-27, at the 15:52 mark of the second half, the Badgers were desperately in need of an offensive spark in the championship round of the Maui Invitational last Wednesday. Bowman took the floor and triggered a 10-2 run with a 3-pointer and driving layup.
Â
"Lorne hit a big-time shot when we needed it – he had great minutes and he should take a lot of confidence away from this," said Chambliss, underlining the importance of such experience and exposure for Bowman and Hepburn. "Both of these guys should have a ton of confidence.
"We've got two really young point guards. But they grew up really fast here this past week."
Hepburn closed out the 61-55 victory over Saint Mary's by making two free throws with 14 seconds remaining. Matched against a much older backcourt, he wound up playing 31 minutes without a turnover. He also scored six points, pulled down three rebounds and had one assist and one steal.
"The guy understands what it takes to win," Chambliss said. "Like the things that we push every day about going over screens. The one time Chucky went under, the guy hit a 3. He looked back to the bench and before we could even say anything to him, he tapped his chest. He understood."
What is also understood is the impact of Johnny Davis on winning basketball in addition to his positive influence on the growth and maturation of the freshman guards. Davis averaged 23.7 points in the three wins last week and was named the Most Valuable Player of the Maui Invitational.
Davis will obviously be one of the keys to whatever success that the Badgers have moving forward with the expressed hope that what happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas but instead carries over to Wednesday night's game at Georgia Tech in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
"He's just so versatile," UW assistant coach Dean Oliver said of Davis who has scored at least 15 points in all five games that he has played this season. "He cares about both ends of the floor – defensively and how he affects the game offensively. His tenacity ranks up there with the best of them."
Citing Davis collecting a gold medal with Team USA's U19 World Cup team last summer, Oliver offered, "Competing against the top players in the world and in his age group, and seeing how he can play with them, it has given him a lot of confidence coming into this season.
"We could see it immediately from the summer workouts. When he came back, he had a whole different mentality coming into each workout and every day. He also had some things that he wanted to work on, and he has really put the time in and worked on those things and it's starting to show."
Agreeing that Davis has been setting a high bar for Hepburn and Bowman, Chambliss said, "With how he's playing, the energy he's bringing – not necessarily vocally but as far as physically with what he's doing on the court – you definitely want to follow everything that he's doing.
"It just gives a lot of guys energy … it just ignites us on both ends."
Standing outside of the UW locker room at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Hepburn didn't have to be reminded that another Omaha native, Terence Crawford, won the WBO welterweight title a few nights earlier in the same venue with a 10th-round TKO win over Shawn Porter.
The 34-year-old Crawford loves hoops and has played in the NBA's Celebrity All-Star game.
"When I was growing up, he was always playing basketball with the youth in Omaha," Hepburn said. "I actually have a couple of videos of me beating him in basketball so if he ever tells you that he has beaten me, he's lying. (Laughter). He's actually a decent hooper. I've known him for a long time."
Hepburn is good friends with Crawford's nephew. But he's not a big boxing fan. Chambliss is. While he favors UFC, he was not about to turn down an opportunity to attend the Crawford-Porter fight. Nearly everyone he met from Omaha brought up the same thing, "You all got Chucky Hepburn, huh?"
It reinforced the respect that Hepburn has earned in his hometown. Days later, Chambliss was still buzzing about the electric atmosphere for the title bout and concluded, "Just to watch a prize fight, a belt fight here in Vegas, and then four days later to win our title fight here, it was big time."
Meanwhile, Hepburn is still probing how to throw punches and take them.
"I'm still trying to learn different ways to score – that will come to me one day," said Hepburn who credited Providence's Al Durham for accelerating his development. "Playing against him, I know I can play against anybody just knowing how many career starts he has (104) and his level of experience."
Despite their lack of seasoning, Hepburn and Bowman each had a hand in last week's sweep of Texas A&M, Houston and Saint Mary's. After upsetting the Cougars, Hepburn said, "With everyone doubting us, thinking we don't have enough experience, we beat one of the top teams in the nation."
If nothing else, they now feel like they have a puncher's chance to exceed all expectations.
Â
