Michigan 57, Wisconsin 68: Good 20, not quite 40

Unlike Wednesday night against Northwestern, Michigan came out firing in Madison.

Zak Irvin, in particular, led the charge with seven early points as Michigan jumped out to a 9-2 lead and the offense organically generated open looks.

Also unlike the last game, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman didn't get on the board until four minutes had elapsed in the second half.

The most obvious point of divergence from the last game: the final score. Michigan played a strong first 20, but couldn't follow up on that first-half effort, as the Wolverines (20-10, 10-7) fell 68-57 in Madison.

Irvin led the way with 14 points. Abdur-Rahkman, Duncan Robinson and Ricky Doyle each added 10 apiece.

Bronson Koenig led UW with 19, while Nigel Hayes (16), Ethan Happ (12), and Vitto Brown (14) also made big contributions.

Michigan attempted just 13 3-pointers in the game (making 5 of them), while the Badgers shot 21 -- I'm not sure how many times Michigan has been out-attempted from beyond the arc this season, but it played a role in the result tonight, as Michigan just doesn't have enough juice inside the paint to win against solid competition (which UW most definitely has been since we flipped over to 2016).

With the win, the Badgers have now won 10 of 11 and move into the top four in the conference standings, an improbable sentence given their early-season struggles.

The Wolverines and Badgers raced to the half after a competitive 20 minutes, with the former up just one -- Michigan was 20 minutes away from just about locking up an NCAA Tournament berth.

But nothing comes that easy with this team.

Mark Donnal picked up his third foul in the first minute of the second half. Michigan played a relatively solid first half of defense -- Wisconsin was saved on a few scrambled possessions with fortuitous openings and late shot-clock shots -- but the Wolverines would need to get it going, as they were fortunate the Badgers missed good looks in the first.

It was all a matter of when the inevitable Badgers run would come. And with Michigan leading 40-39, the home team turned it on, going on an 8-0 run and energizing the Kohl Center crowd.

But as the half went on, Michigan began to miss open looks of its own, killing its comeback effort. Derrick Walton missed an uncontested layup in transition and a possession later Irvin missed a somewhat contested layup after a Walton steal.

That's about all there was to say about this one. Michigan missed its opportunities to inch closer down the stretch -- and with Irvin pressing to make plays, turnovers followed -- while the Badgers made key shots to keep the Wolverines at bay.

The silver linings? Irvin had a strong first half, hunting his shots and making them, before fading in the second. In addition, Doyle made an impact on the game with 10 points (5-for-5), including a thunderous alley-oop dunk and a strong finish at the rim through contact, not to mention a nice catch and finish on a tricky arcing feed from Abdur-Rahkman. It isn't much, but Doyle's performance is a nice little footnote on what was otherwise not a great night for the visiting Wolverines.

Now, Michigan turns to its regular-season finale against an ailing Iowa team, which lost tonight against Ohio State in Columbus. The loss, Iowa's fourth in their last five games, pushes the Hawkeyes out of the top four, for the moment, due to a tiebreaker with the Badgers.

Fortunately for Michigan, a win against Iowa would be a win against a ranked team, ailing one or not.

A loss at home and Michigan will head to the conference tournament with a far greater mental weight than it would otherwise have.

(1) Wisconsin 63, (1) Duke 68: Swing, Stagger, Survive

(1) Duke 68, (1) Wisconsin 63 

The shots weren't falling early, as the Big Ten's best, the Wisconsin Badgers, and fellow 1-seed, the Duke Blue Devils, hit the hardwood in Indianapolis tonight.

Near the third-to-last TV timeout of the game, the Badgers led by nine: a title within reach. The crowd roared like a game at the Kohl Center with the Hawkeyes or Illini or Wolverines in town. A December defeat against Duke seemed ready to be avenged.

But first, the prologue.

There's an arrhythmic rhythm to it all. The shots weren't falling early: Duke and Wisconsin got out of the gates to a combined 3-for-9 start from the field.

With every game, there's a feeling out period: what are you trying to do, how will you react to me, should we slow down, should we speed up, is that set working, should we play this lineup against that lineup.

But that could be set aside, a product of nerves, the stage, the fantastic zipping of electrons back and forth, up and down the court.

Once the nerves settled, and the initial roar dulled only slightly into a microwave background of waiting-to-be-released hysteria, the Badgers started to struggle. Despite a 3-for-6 start from three, the Badgers were 3-for-12 from inside the arc.

Early returns indicated that the Badgers would have to shoot their way into a more comfortable offensive setting, one in which Duke's defensive presences would have to extend up closer to the arc.

Despite that, UW trailed just 23-17 with 6:45 to play in the first half. But they needed something, having gone on a four-plus minute field goal drought.

Then, a Sam Dekker putback gave them life. Frank Kaminsky swiped a ball in the low post at the other end, allowing Traevon Jackson to go coast-to-coast for two.

Kaminsky converted an and-1 that made the arena boom like the Kohl Center. Justise Winslow then converted a big two for Duke, ending what had been a 7-0 run for Bo Ryan's squad, but perhaps the biggest development in this stretch was Okafor picking up a second foul with just under five minutes left in the half (Winslow also had two fouls at this point).

The Blue Devils thus went to the 2-3, which the Badgers summarily beat with ease, a Dekker layup good for his seventh and eighth points of the half.

Oddly, the Badgers, perhaps unjustifiably not known for their offensive rebounding prowess -- instead known as a "get back and play defense" team -- dominated on the boards, snagging eight offensive boards to Duke two at one point late in the first half.

Duke gambled late, sitting both Okafor and Winslow -- Wisconsin couldn't make them pay, and the two heavyweights headed to the locker rooms, tied at 31.

This time, the Badgers didn't start slow. Instead, they hit their first three field goal attempts, jumping out to an early 5-point lead. For Duke, it didn't help that Okafor had some trouble finishing around the basket. Despite a couple thunderous dunks early, the freshman from Chicago missed a few bunnies in traffic, key misses for a Duke team looking to stay with the hyperefficient Badgers.

Making matters worse for Okafor, he picked up his third foul at the 16:50 mark on a strong Kaminsky take to the basket, spinning and spinning like a top that won't stop.

The Badgers didn't stop there, and the mostly UW-partisan crowd joined them.

Bronson Koenig awoke in the second half, scoring nine points in the first six minutes, helping the Badgers up their lead to nine.

Duke looked punch drunk -- discombobulated, unsteady, not to mention without Winslow or Okafor on the floor.

That didn't last for long. Grayson Allen buried a triple, then scored on a traditional three-point play on a fearless drive to the rim, cutting UW's lead to three. Forget Okafor, Winslow, Jones and Cook: how about the freshman from Jacksonville?

Fortunately for the Badgers, they have the luxury of a big man in Nigel Hayes, who began his Wisconsin career without a three-point shot, and this year become not just an okay three-point shooter, but a very good one (38 percent). He buried one, his third of three attempts, to push the lead back to six with 11:43 to play.

 On the not so bright side for the Badgers, Duke entered the bonus with over 11 minutes to play, after hardly fouling at all in the first half. Duke attempted four free throws in the first half -- by the under-8 TV timeout, they'd attempted 11 in the second half.

Duke cut the deficit to one, 51-50, finally bringing Okafor back into the fold.

But, just like that, back to the bench he went. Less than a minute into his return, he picked up his fourth, once again trying to check and spinning Kaminsky.

A theme all night, the Badgers had trouble taking advantage of mismatches. With Duke's Tyus Jones on Duje Dukan, Jones was able to draw a charge call (whether it was the right call is another discussion).

The two teams slogged their way through an ugly couple of minutes of basketball. Foul, missed jumper, foul. Foul foul foul.

Two fighters, tired, grabbing, clutching for respite.

Then they started swinging.

The Badgers went to the Player of the Year, Kaminsky, who finished for two. At the other end, Jones buried a cold-blooded trey to give the lead back to Duke, 59-58, the 16th lead change of the contest.

The TV timeout was welcomed like the end-of-round bell. Clang. Assistants buzzing, offering bits of wisdom that were almost as much emotional in their content as they were practical.

With 3:22 to play, what else can you say? Hit them, don't get hit. Survive, play by play. There are no loping knockouts now, just survival.

Quiet for so long, Okafor went to work against Kaminsky in the post, giving him a spin move of his own. Despite Kaminsky's best bear hug, the Lisle, Ill., native couldn't stop his fellow Illinoisan from scoring his first bucket in four score and seven years.

After a big Duke stop, Okafor collected an offensive rebound and scored to put Duke up five. Koenig's acrobatic layup attempt fell off the mark at the other end. Despite a video review, and the ball appearing to go off a Blue Devil, Duke got the ball.

The Badgers were reeling, needing a stop. They didn't get it.

Tyus Jones, again, buried a three from the top. Wisconsin fell, a thud, followed by eight fast seconds.

They got up, and Kaminsky buried a three to keep them alive. Duke missed an ill-advised run-out attempt at the rim, and Koenig made them pay, delivering a no-look pass to Hayes, who slammed one home, cutting the deficit to three with 50 seconds to play.

The Badgers fouled, and Jones, the best free throw shooter in the ACC, buried two. Koenig couldn't convert a tough jumper attempt, all but ending things for the Badgers.

The confetti rained down: Duke 68, Wisconsin 63.

Bo Ryan's squad led by nine with 13:23 to play, but a combination of Tyus Jones, some late-game heroics from Okafor -- a game that was far from his best -- and the Badgers oddly playing a little too much one-on-one basketball instead of the team ball the program has been built on, all conspired to down the Badgers on a night when their first national title since 1941 seemed within their grasp.

Much will be said about the foul disparity from the first half to the second, or the decision to give Duke the ball late despite it appearing to go off the Blue Devils out of bounds.

But those points, while possibly valid, detract from what was a great game and a fitting cap to an exciting tournament and season.

With the victory, the first-seeded Blue Devils secured their fifth NCAA title, while the Badgers fell for the second year in the Final Four, this time on the doorstep of a title.

When things looked bleak for Duke, Grayson Allen -- not Okafor or Jones or Cook -- brought them from the brink. If you're looking for a Spike Albrecht, he's it, albeit a great deal more heralded out of high school than Albrecht was when he went off against Louisville two years ago.

As for Wisconsin, the loss caps another tremendous season for the Badgers, the second year in a fascinating reinvention experiment in Wisconsin basketball. The Badgers of last year and this year have been almost unrecognizable from the UW teams of previous years -- these teams combined the same old elements of turnover-averse, efficient basketball, this time doing it with multiple NBA talents and a strong supporting cast that could run when necessary and slow you down whenever things were going well, which was most of the time for the Badgers. Wisconsin finishes the season with 31 wins to just four losses, two of those against Duke, one that will be remembered and felt far more than the other.

And so the old season comes to a close. Time heals all wounds, they say -- but it doesn't heal all of them. For the players coming back, whether in Madison or East Lansing or Tuscon or Spokane or South Bend or Lexington, in Louisville or Ames or Charlottesville or Washington D.C. or Philadelphia, time will do nothing but allow it all to boil quietly, bubbling over intermittently and subsiding, a continual unbelief of the reality of defeat.

With that feeling, those players enter the offseason.

But there is no offseason. The season begins now.

Michigan's comeback falls short, Badgers knock off Wolverines in Ann Arbor

No. 15 Michigan 62, No. 21 Wisconsin 75

The Wolverines have taken care of business on the road this season, notching wins in Madison, East Lansing and Columbus; on Sunday, Michigan's season became about defending its home court. 

The No. 21 Wisconsin Badgers rolled into Ann Arbor this afternoon with a three-game winning streak, on the heels of a 1-5 stretch. Wisconsin's defense tightened up after that brutal stretch and, lo and behold, the Badgers got back on the winning track. 

However, winning at home (or on the road against a team like Illinois) is a different animal from winning in Ann Arbor against the team tied for the top spot in the conference standings. 

The Badgers clearly came ready to play, as they jumped out to an early 12-2 lead, paced by a pair of threes from Josh Gasser. The script was a little different this time around; this time, the Badgers were the ones shooting the lights out early in the game. 

Meanwhile, Michigan struggled on the offensive end, with just seven points by the second media timeout. Also, as is Wisconsin's defensive style, the Wolverines didn't have a single three-point attempt to their name by that point in the game. 

Michigan had no answer for Frank Kaminsky on the block and the slashing Sam Dekker, either. The Badgers are by no means a great offensive rebounding team --in fact, Bo Ryan de-emphasizes it in favor of getting back on defense-- but UW had six offensive boards through 11 minutes or so of play. If the Wolverines couldn't find a way to clean up on the glass and toughen up on the block, it appeared as if the Badgers were poised to upset them in Ann Arbor. 

Michigan continued to take the long twos Wisconsin routinely offers, but, unlike the matchup in Madison, the Wolverines couldn't connect. More importantly, the Badgers consistently held Michigan to one-and-done. 

With UW dominating every aspect of the game in the first half, the Wolverines might have been lucky to be down "just" 34-19 at the break. 

Badgers cruise in West Lafayette, snap 3-game losing streak

No. 9 Wisconsin 72, Purdue 58

When the Badgers and Boilermakers took the floor at Mackey Arena today, both looked to rebound: literally and figuratively. 

The Badgers, after a program record 16-0 start, dropped their last three games (at Indiana, Michigan and at Minnesota). Meanwhile, Purdue rolled into Evanston with a three-game winning streak Tuesday night only to leave with a loss, an ugly 63-60 double overtime defeat. 

While the Boilermakers were not considered to be Big Ten title contenders, a win against a top 10 Wisconsin team would do wonders for its tournament seed (Big Ten and Big Dance). 

As for Bo Ryan's Badgers, a fourth straight loss would not only certainly knock them out of the top 10, it would, in all likelihood , knock them out of the Big Ten regular season title race. 

Unlike UW's trip to Minneapolis, the Bagders had a good deal more pep in their collective step today in West Lafayette. The Badgers jumped out to a 17-6 lead five minutes into the first half. However, the biggest early development was A.J. Hammons going to the bench with two fouls just a minute and a half into the game. 

A few minutes later, UW's Frank Kaminsky picked up his second as well; the Badgers struggled mightily without Kaminsky on the floor in The Barn, so the Badgers' balance would once again be tested. 

The Badgers led 20-13 halfway through the half, and while it was still early, the Badgers' defense was several shades better than it had been against Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota. Thirteen minutes into the half, Purdue was shooting just 35 percent (7-for-20) from the field. 

To make matters worse for the Boilers, Matt Painter rolled the dice by playing Hammons in spite of his foul situation. It backfired, as Hammons picked up his third foul with 9:51 left in the half. Without Hammons on the floor, Purdue would have to make shots from the outside. Coming into today's game, Purdue ranked just 7th in the Big Ten in three-point percentage during conference play (32.7 percent). 

Defensively, Purdue was up to the challenge, particularly after the Badgers' hot start from the field. The Boilermakers went into the half down 32-29, despite not having Hammons on the floor very much at all (zero first half points). 

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Recapping Wisconsin

In spite of my extreme skepticism, Michigan went to Madison on Saturday and won for the first time since 1999. As usual, I threw down some thoughts over at Maize n Brew.

It has been over 48 hours since the game ended, and, quite honestly, I'm still a little shocked. Not necessarily shocked that Michigan won, even though I had thought it an unlikely outcome. I was more surprised by how brutally efficient and downright unfair Michigan was on the offensive end. Watching it unfold live, it was almost too good to be true. Michigan's drought in the second half, when the Badgers made the run, was the only indicator of Michigan's mortality in this game. For the better part of two hours, the Wolverines were unstoppable.

This team doesn't have Trey Burke, but that's okay: they've got Nik Stauskas.

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Wisconsin

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Michigan heads to the Kohl Center tomorrow, a place where they've had no success in recent years. The Wolverines will attempt to break a 12-game losing streak at the Kohl Center against the No. 3 Badgers, who are coming off of their first loss of the season, a high-scoring affair in Bloomington on Tuesday.

As such, I wrote up a little something about Michigan's struggles at the Kohl Center over at Maize n Brew.

Also, my standard Wisconsin game preview is also available for your perusal at MnB.

The game tips off at 6:00 ET and will be televised on ESPN.

Wisconsin struggles in first half, pulls past Iowa in second after McCaffery ejection

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Wisconsin 75, Iowa 71

One more win would give the No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers their best start in program history (15-0); however, the visiting No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes posed UW's toughest test yet.

The Hawkeyes, who many --myself included-- have been predicting big things for these last couple of seasons, seem to have finally hit their stride. The Hawkeyes entered tonight's game with a 12-2 (1-0) record, with an overtime loss to Villanova and a 3-point loss at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames the only black marks on their record to date.

Combine Iowa's desire to push the pace and UW's seemingly newfound ability to do so this season and you had all the makings for an up-tempo, decidedly un-B1G game.

The Hawkeyes gave UW problems early with their size, allowing them to jump out to a 9-3 lead, partially helped out by rebounding four of their first five misses of the night.

The Iowa lead ballooned to 15-4, as Iowa had no answer for Iowa on the boards or in transition. Tell me if you've heard this before, but UW's best chance at winning this one seemed to be slowing things down and winning it halfcourt possession by halfcourt possession.

The Badgers started the game 3-of-16 from the field, with Frank Kaminsky converting all three makes. Somehow, UW trailed by just seven after a frigid start from the field.

Things heated up quickly for the Badgers, who rattled off a 13-4 run to pull within two, powered mostly by two triples from Kaminsky and one from Josh Gasser. With a little dribble penetration, the Badgers started to find some open looks. Even so, the Badgers would have to tighten things up on the defensive end, starting with the defensive boards, where the Hawkeyes absolutely demolished them in the opening 20 minutes for an offensive rebounding percentage of 61 percent.

Then again, a combined start of 0-of-9 from the field from Sam Dekker and Ben Brust couldn't continue either if UW planned on walking out into the Madison chill with a victory.

Elsewhere in the B1G: Wisconsin regains I-94 supremacy, holds off visiting Marquette

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No. 8 Wisconsin 70, Marquette 64

For perhaps the first time all season, the new look, high-flying Badgers looked like the Wisconsin of old, scoring a 48-38 victory in Charlottesville on Wednesday. In the first half of this afternoon's game against the visiting 5-3 Marquette Golden Eagles, it appeared as if Bo Ryan's squad was in for another hammer fight of a basketball game. 

Hampered by foul trouble --Frank Kaminsky (2), Traveon Jackson (2) and Nigel Hayes (2)-- the Badgers, already thin in the front court, were forced to deploy backups Evan Anderson and Zach Bohannon. 

Even so, Marquette wasn't able to take advantage of UW's foul issues. Wisconsin got to the half up 28-25, paced by 13 points from sophomore Sam Dekker, including a monstrous dunk near the end of the half to energize the Kohl Center crowd. Despite sitting at 9-0 with a shiny top 10 ranking, this game meant a little something extra for the Badgers, who had lost two in a row to their in-state rivals (including a loss in the Kohl Center two years ago, ending a 23-game UW home winning streak). 

Unfortunately for Marquette, a violation of team rules sidelined 6-foot-3 junior guard Todd Mayo, MU's third leading scorer (10.0 ppg). Without him, the Golden Eagles found the offensive end tough sledding. F Davante Gardner managed nine points in the first half, but MU struggled to get much production elsewhere. 

As of six minutes into the second half, the Golden Eagles were shooting just 37.1 percent from the field (13-for-35); not quite as bad as MU's afternoon against Ohio State, but not good any way you slice it. 

In the face of questions regarding Wisconsin's defense --which has been good but not elite as it has typically been under Ryan-- the Badgers have put the clamps down this week against UVA and MU. Bo Ryan's squad has surprised some folks (myself included) with respect to its ability to push the pace this season, but this week has represented quite the return to the old style of Wisconsin basketball everyone has come to know. In case watching a Badgers squad execute in transition has been especially disorienting for you, it appears as if they may be returning to a more familiar style of play as we approach Big Ten play. 

The Badgers began to pull away in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, jumping to a 44-36 lead by the 12-minute mark. 

MU's Jamil Wilson buried a jumper to cut the lead to eight, putting himself in the double-digits in points (10), joining Gardner in that category. However, save for eight points from C Chris Otule, MU continued to get little else from the supporting cast. The five guards logging playing time for the Golden Eagles tallied just five points among them through 30 minutes. Against a team with a stacked back court like Wisconsin, it's difficult to be in a position to win with that sort of production (or lack thereof). 

The Badgers responded to Wilson's jumper with an alley oop dunk to Dekker, then a forced turnover on the defensive end. Wilson responded with two more points, and, as if on cue, Dekker nailed a triple from the corner on the heels of a loose ball situation. 

Like I said about the Michigan-Duke game on Tuesday, even when the score appears close by the box score, good teams provide a response when necessary, even if they aren't playing especially well overall. Playing at a place like the Kohl Center, that sort of auto-response from a home favorite can be demoralizing. 

It seemed as if MU would never string together a series of buckets and stops to make it a game; yet, somehow, the Badgers couldn't quite put them away. A 3-point play from MU's Otule cut the lead to six with 2:53 to play, giving the Golden Eagles real hope for the first time since the first half. 

The Golden Eagles got the stop they needed on the ensuing possession, then Wilson buried a triple from the right side, cutting the deficit to three. The positive feelings from that sequence, however, were short-lived. 

Once again, UW answered, this time with a Kaminsky triple from the top of the key. Wilson's 3-point attempt at the other end landed off the mark, ushering in the desperation fouling portion of the game. 

The Golden Eagles hung in the game far longer than it appeared like they should have. Regardless, the Badgers made more plays down the stretch than did Marquette, and that is, ultimately, what won the day for the still undefeated Badgers. 

With the the 70-64 victory, the Badgers moved to 10-0 on the season, an incredible start featuring several quality wins. In addition, the Badgers snapped a 2-game losing streak against their in-state rival. 

Wisconsin returns to the Kohl Center on Wednesday for what might be a tricky game against the 8-2 Milwaukee Panthers of the Horizon League. 

Meanwhile, Marquette falls to a disappointing 5-4 on the season, with four games remaining on its nonconference schedule. Buzz Williams' squad has some work to do if it is going to climb out of the bottom half of the standings in the new Big East. 

But, as all college basketball fans say following a loss at this point in the season: It's only December.

Elsewhere in the B1G: Bo Ryan lands 300th win, Badgers win slugfest in Charlottesville

No. 8 Wisconsin 48, Virginia 38

Playing four of six games on the road last night, the Big Ten finished the first night of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge with a 2-4 record. Tonight, four B1G squads enjoy a home court advantage, but not the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers, who headed to Charlottesville for a tough matchup against Tony Bennett's UVA squad. 

As Michigan fans know from the Wolverine basketball team's trip to John Paul Jones Arena two years ago, that is a tough place to play, especially against a team as defensively sound as the Cavaliers. Many people, including myself, have made this observation, but the Cavaliers would be a perfect fit in the Big Ten. 

Despite losing a trio of important frontcourt players, the Badgers have jumped out to an 8-0 record, the best start UW's had during the Bo Ryan era. 

Although the Badgers have shown an ability to push the pace this season in a way that can only be deemed uncharacteristic of your average Ryan team, tonight's game against UVA would assuredly be a stereotypical Big Ten slugfest, neither fast nor aesthetically pleasing. 

Predictably, the first half was just that, as the two squad found themselves tied at 16-all with six minutes to play in the first half.

Somehow, the Cavaliers were down just 19-15 with 3:38 to play in the half despite not having scored a field goal in almost 10 minutes. It was that sort of half for both teams. On several occasions, the Badgers' swing offense failed to generate anything, resulting in a last second of the shot clock airballed three. 

Even so, Frank Kaminsky came to play, as has usually been the case for him thus far this season. In the opening frame, Kaminsky scored seven points and hauled in nine rebounds. UW went into the half up 25-20, a lead that felt positively insurmountable.  

Then again, UVA had to feel good about being down by only five given that they didn't make a basket for 10 minutes. With that said, another half like that for the Cavs would mean one more win in the Big Ten's Challenge total. 

Elsewhere in the B1G: Badgers avenge 2012 loss, down No. 11 Florida 59-53

Fouad Egbaria (file photo)

With two matchups between top 5 teams going on elsewhere in America, this meeting between the Gators and Badgers didn't get as much attention as it should have. 

Despite being short-handed on account of a trio of suspensions, the Gators jumped out to an 7-2 lead thanks to Casey Prather and Kasey Hill. A couple of minutes later, a pair of Michael Frazier triples upped the UF lead to 13-4 early, as the Wisconsin offense was rudderless in the early stages. 

Wisconsin's excellent 3-point shooting from the St. John's game didn't carry over to his one; the Badgers started 0-of-5 from downtown.

Yet another triple from Frazier forced a Bo Ryan timeout. Down 16-4, the Badgers were in danger of getting run out of the gym. Sam Dekker stemmed the tide, hitting triples on consecutive possessions, the second in the secondary break facilitated by Traevon Jackson. Having cut the deficit to just six, the crowd, which had been eerily silent to that point, made sure it was heard. 

Although it's difficult to argue that the Badgers won't be a decidedly backcourt-oriented team this season, freshman forward Nigel Hayes put forth an encouraging opening 10 minutes or so, scoring six points on 3-of-4 shooting. 

UF got everything it wanted on the offensive end, as the Badgers couldn't figure out how to defend the ball screen. Wisconsin tightened up defensively as the half went along, allowing them to fight their way back into it as the game neared halftime. 

They fought so hard that they actually found themselves up, 29-26, following a 13-2 run at the end of the half. 

Elsewhere in the B1G: Wisconsin looks for revenge, Michigan State squares off against No. 1 Kentucky

If you haven't noticed, I've been writing a decent bit about non-Michigan things here of late. As we head into basketball season, I'm going to try to expand my writing here to nudge this place toward general interest material, particularly with respect to college basketball. There's a lot of great stuff happening out there in the world of sports, and there's no point limiting myself to writing only about Michigan. 
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While Michigan squares off against another overmatched opponent tonight at the Crisler Center, a pair of big games featuring Big Ten squads are on the docket tonight as the Tip-Off Marathon draws to a close. Wisconsin draws Florida at the Kohl Center, while Tom Izzo's Spartans get No. 1 Kentucky at the United Center in Chicago.

So, let's start with the Badgers:

No. 20 Wisconsin vs. No. 10 Florida--Kohl Center, Madison, Wis. (9:00 ET, ESPN2)

Fouad Egbaria

The Badgers scored a solid victory against an athletic St. John's squad in Sioux Falls on Friday; they'll look to build on that tonight as Bill Donovan's squad comes to the Kohl Center. 

Resume

Of course, there's not much here yet. The Gators have played one game, an uninspiring (by the box score) 77-69 victory against North Florida on Friday. Senior forward Casey Prather led the way with 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting; Prather also pulled down eight boards. 

Freshman point guard Kasey Hill scored 15 points of his own (5-of-9 shooting), plus four assists, two steals, a block and two turnovers. 

North Florida's frontcourt seemed to have some success against their Gator counterparts. Forward Travis Wallace scored 15 and 6'11'' center Romelo Banks pitched in 10 of his own. The Gators did force 17 UNF turnovers, but the Ospreys did also pull down 13 offensive boards, good for an ORB% of 34%. 

Most years, this would be big for a frontcourt-oriented Badgers squad; however, as I've noted here before, Bo Ryan's squad will be powered by its backcourt this season, until younger options, like freshmen forwards Vitto Brown and Nigel Hayes, get some seasoning. Frank Kaminsky is Wisconsin's only experienced big guy, but he is more of a shooter than a true low post warrior. 

The Badgers took their worst loss of the season last season against Florida down in Gainesville, a 76-54 loss almost a year ago on Nov. 14. There's no question that the Badgers will be looking to avenge that loss in front of a raucous Kohl Center crowd. 

Personnel

On the bright side for UW, despite Florida's currently shiny ranking, this Gator squad is probably not as good as it was last year. Erik Murphy, Kenny Boyton and Mike Rosario are gone, and the Gators are also dealing with a trio of suspensions. 

At that link is a solid Q&A between SB Nation's Bucky's 5th Quarter and Alligator Army; as noted there, Prather and Hill will represent the bulk of UF's offensive firepower, especially Prather. 

Senior forward Patric Young (who is actually listed at center despite only being 6'9'') will be key for the Gators' chances tonight, particularly given the unsettled nature of the Badgers frontcourt. Florida will need much more than the two point, two rebound effort Young pitched in against UNF. 

Forward Will Yeguete and guard DeVon Walker round out the starting five for UF; they went a combined 1-of-6 from the field against UNF. Yeguete had himself a nice game against Michigan in the Elite 8 last season, going 5-of-5 from the field for 13 points. 

As for the Badgers, Frank Kaminsky, Josh Gasser, Ben Brust, Traevon Jackson and Sam Dekker should once again comprise the starting five. Gasser's post-injury debut against St. John's was wildly successful, scoring 19 points on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc and 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. 

With Ryan Evans no longer on the roster, production from the low post might be hard to find for the Badgers this season. However, with Brust and Gasser shooting well, and Dekker filling it up as he is wont to do, the perimeter game should more than make up for it most nights. 

Points of Emphasis

• In that vein, how do the Badgers respond if their shots aren't falling and they can't find opportunities in transition? This game should provide a good test in that regard. 

• Who checks Patric Young? The odds are good that Young won't be held to just two points again tonight. Can Kaminsky and the young forwards, Hayes and Brown, slow him down?

• According to Andy Hutchins of Alligator Army, UF's perimeter defense has been "almost embarrassingly bad" thus far. The Badgers should get some good looks. For all of the advanced stats that now exist to dissect the game of college basketball, it always comes down to simply making shots. 

Prediction

Ken Pomeroy predicted a 65-63 UW victory with 57 percent confidence. He's a smart guy, and I tend to agree with him. If the Gators were at full strength, maybe this would be different, but with the Badgers playing at the fortress that is the Kohl Center, I think they shoot well enough to keep a depleted UF squad in check. I agree that both teams will land in the 60s, but I think the Badgers win by a few more points than Kenpom thinks. 

Score: Wisconsin 68, Florida 61. 

And with that, I'll move on to the main event of the night: No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 2 Michigan State. 

Elsewhere in the B1G: No. 21 Wisconsin 86, St. John's 75

As the Wolverines took on UMass-Lowell in what was destined to be a blowout from the moment it was scheduled, the Wisconsin Badgers took the floor against St. John's at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls for what would be, on paper, the first interesting matchup for a Big Ten squad.

The Badgers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, which included Ben Brust's first trey of the year. Shortly thereafter, Josh Gasser hit his first trey in two years, boding well for the Badgers' perimeter shooting for the night. The Badgers started 4-for-8 from beyond the arc; when UW shoots it like that, they can be very difficult to beat.

The biggest development for Bo Ryan's squad has been its ability to push the pace more frequently than has usually been the case. UW found some success early on tonight, grabbing St. John's long rebounds and pushing it for a high-percentage shot of some sort, whether around the rim or a three after an extra pass or two.

Wisconsin raced to a 24-10 lead 10 minutes in, paced by six points apiece from Sam Dekker and Ben Brust and seven from Traevon Jackson.

Frustration began to set in for the Red Storm when Orlando Sanchez got called for an offensive foul 15 feet away from the basket, his third foul of the game. On the other end, Gasser buried his second three to give the Badgers a 31-13 lead that seemed insurmountable given the lack of pep in the Red Storm's step.

In the first half, the Badgers managed a mark of 1.13 points per possession, with the Red Storm going for 0.77 PPP. The Red Storm turned it over 10 times in the first half--paired with a 39.1% from the field, that is not exactly a recipe for success against the Badgers, let alone any team.

As it to say "I'm back," Gasser hit another three early in the second half to put the Badgers up 40-25. Despite the loss in frontcourt production, Gasser's return from injury is a key addition for this swifter version of Badgers basketball.

However, the Red Storm began to show life. A putback slam from Chris Obekpa put the Red Storm down 10 3:30 into the second half.

The Red Storm dunkfest continued, with Sanchez hitting JaKarr Sampson in transition for an authoritative slam. On the ensuing offensive possession, a Sampson putback cut the Wisconsin lead to 49-42.

After a sloppy first half for the Red Storm, they battled back admirably, cutting the deficit to five with nine minutes to go. It will be interesting to see how this St. John's team performs the rest of the way; Steve Lavin's squad definitely has talent, particularly Sanchez and Sampson.

Foul trouble became an issue for the Badgers, with freshman forward Nigel Hayes and Traevon Jackson both carrying four with over nine minutes to play.

Luckily for Wisconsin, following another thunderous Red Storm dunk, Sam Dekker and Ben Brust buried triples on consecutive possessions, completely taking the wind out of the Red Storm's sails.

Shortly thereafter, Duje Dukan, a 6'9'' RS junior from Deerfield, Ill., nailed two straight threes to increase the the UW lead even further. On that note, Dukan is an intriguing option for the Badgers and perhaps the heir apparent to UW's long line of three-point shooting forward types.

From there, the Badgers cruised to a 86-75 victory, an impressive start to the season for a UW squad that will present Big Ten foes with a much different look than it has in recent years. Despite the Red Storm's dazzling play above the rim, they weren't able to get a whole lot in half court situations.

Perhaps the most notable takeaway from this one is Wisconsin's scoring output; in 2012-13, the Badgers scored 80+ just four times.

On the other hand, the Badgers bombared St. John's with three after three, finishing 11-for-23 (47.5%) from beyond the arc tonight. Half court defense plus the three-point shot will continue to be the UW formula for victory.

Wisconsin returns to the Kohl Center on Tuesday, where they will look to avenge last year's loss against Florida (9:00 ET, ESPN2).

Elsewhere in the B1G: No. 21 Wisconsin 80, UW-Platteville 51

File photo (Fouad Egbaria)

The Wolverines opened up their season against a vastly overmatched Concordia squad last night, eventually leaving the floor with a 117-44 victory. Although much of the preseason focus has been on the Wolverines and Spartans this season, this is the Big Ten; several other teams will be in the mix for title contention this season.

As usual, one of those teams will be the Badgers, who began their season tonight against UW-Platteville in the Kohl Center for an exhibition tune-up before taking on St. John's next Friday in Sioux Falls.

Bo Ryan is faced with the task of replacing multiple key pieces seemingly every year, and yet the Badgers always seem to turn out all right. The 2012-13 UW squad went from a mediocre 6-4 start to a 4-seed (and a first round bye). This season, the Badgers have to replace Jared Berggren, Mike Brusewitz and Ryan Evans in the frontcourt.

However, UW returns rising star Sam Dekker, Ben Brust and Traevon Jackson at the point, not to mention Josh Gasser from injury.

Dekker, Gasser, Jackson, Brust and Frank Kaminsky got the start for the Badgers tonight; given the aforementioned departures, the Badgers will need big minutes from Kaminsky this season. In any case, this will certainly be a backcourt-oriented squad this season.

Due to technical difficulties, I missed the first 4:30 or so. Platteville gained a 12-11 lead early.

RS Jr. Duje Dukan came in for Dekker at the first break. Naturally, Jackson pushed it in transition and hit Dukan in the corner, who nailed the open trey. I say "naturally" because Dukan is, of course, 6'9'', continuing the UW tradition of big guy three-point shooters.

The 6'7'' freshman forward Nigel Hayes also entered the game early; he took a bad jumper from the left side and then failed to convert on a second chance opportunity around the rim. The same competition caveats brought up re: Michigan's exhibition yesterday apply here; it's difficult to tell what to expect from certain guys after a game like this. With that said, given the lack of much proven frontcourt production, the Badgers will have to rely on the freshman Hayes and fellow freshman (and fellow Ohioan) Vitto Brown.

As far as backcourt reserves go, freshman Bronson Koenig is an interesting prospect. At 6'3'' 190 pounds, the freshman offers up some solid size at the guard spot. Also at the guard spot, 6'3'' freshman Jordan Hill joins the fray.

Platteville hung tough for about the first 10 minutes, but after Hayes reeled in a rebound off a missed Kaminsky three and put it in, the Badgers boasted a 29-18 lead.

Given the guard-heavy nature of this squad, some wondered if this iteration of UW basketball would like to push the pace more than it has in the past. The commentators mentioned this, but even though this was just an exhibition, the Badgers found quite a bit of success in transition, running the floor with nice spacing and hitting the open man at the right time.

Now, I don't expect the Badgers to play like Louisville or anything this Big Ten season, but don't be surprised if they do attempt to get some mine some easy buckets in transition.

Dukan had a bit of a rough sequence in which he was slow to help after Platteville executed a nice backdoor pass; on the ensuing offensive possession, Dukan threw up a rough shot on the block. It seemed like he expected a foul, but there didn't seem to be much contact.

The Badgers went into the half up just 37-30. UW's three-point shot would not fall in the first 20 minutes, as the Badgers shot just 1-for-11 from beyond the arc, including a pair of misses at the end of the half when Platteville switched to a zone.

Wisconsin shot just 33% as a team last season, good for 7th in the Big Ten and 225th nationally, so it's not as if they shot the three well last season either. Gasser shot a tremendous 45% from three back in 2011-12, and Brust has shot exactly 38.9% each of the last two seasons. If those two can fill it up from downtown, whatever contributions the Badgers can get from bigs like Kaminsky and Dukan will be gravy.

As with yesterday's post, I'll skip the second half narrative and jump to miscellaneous observations via bullet.