Observation and Grades from Wisconsin’s win over Green Bay

[Da-news-now]

Recap


The Wisconsin Badgers overcame a sluggish start to blow out the Green Bay Phoenix 73-59. The Badgers were led by Nigel Hayes with 24 points. Ethan Happ churned out yet another double-double, with 12 point, 10 rebounds, two steals, and a career-high six assists. Zak Showalter had his best game of the season, draining four three-pointers and nabbing six steals on his way to 16 points.

Wisconsin also played stifling defense, forcing 19 turnovers. They also held the Phoenix to their second lowest point total of the season. With that win, the Badgers improved to 10-2 on the season. They have a nine-day break before they take on Florida A&M in their last tune-up game before conference play starts.

Observations

• Ethan Happ made a jump shot! Well, not really. His feet never left the ground, and it looked like an awkward shot put. But still, it was a shot from outside the paint. The first 228 makes in his Badger career came from inside the paint, so this was a pretty big deal. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come.
• The difference between Wisconsin’s offense when they are playing through Ethan Happ and when they aren’t is astronomical. Even when he isn’t scoring, when he touches the ball in the post, it creates open looks for his teammates one or two passes way. When Happ is getting consistent post touches, Wisconsin’s offense looks unstoppable. I’d be really curious to see a stat that showed Wisconsin’s points per possession when Happ gets a post touch versus when he doesn’t.
• Hot Take Alert: Ethan Happ is the best player on the team. Bronson Koenig is leading the team in scoring, and Nigel Hayes is the best pro prospect on the team. But as an all-around college player, I’d take Happ over both of them. That’s not a knock on either of them either. Hayes has been fantastic lately. That’s just how high my opinion of Happ is.
• Okay, time for a non-Happ observations. This team is very unselfish. In fact, it may be one of the best passing Wisconsin teams I have ever seen. Bronson Koenig, D’Mitrik Trice, and Ethan Happ combined for 13 assists tonight, and we’ve already seen Nigel Hayes’ passing ability. Vitto Brown, Khalil Iverson, and Zak Showalter have also shown the ability to drop the occasional dime.
• Sophomore year Nigel Hayes is back! Over the last six games, Hayes has looked like an All-American. With him playing at this level, the Badgers can beat anyone in the country.

Grades

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[TW]

I watched the game and didn't come away as hyped as the article stated, about the Badgers. The UW-Green Bay team is "not" that good, and they were playing in Madison, making it even tougher. They had absolutely no match-ups that favored them, on a talent basis. You should lose, and you should lose like they did. The Badgers did nothing to prove they were an elite team.

Reality is, the Badgers offense can hit some really cold streaks, and against solid teams, it's going to cost them a chance at wins. We've seen it happen twice already this year, and it's going to happen again, during the Big 10 season, where teams fight hard for home wins.

The "new" Nigel Hayes is refreshing, even though he went through a streak last night where he became less of a player, and more of a frustrated person trying to prove himself. As far as his free throws, he needs hours of work at the charity line. He's just plain horrible.

The Badgers are fortunate that Zak Showalter can step it up if Koenig has a bad game. It happened last night, and you have to wonder what would have happened without Zak? It could have been a very close game.

Iverson will become a solid player. He's willing to sacrifice his body to make it happen. Thomas? Not certain. Trice? He shows flashes of being a real winner down the road, then he looks like a clueless freshman on the next play. I think he's going to be solid when called up on step up. As far as those who have been saying Trice should start, and put Showalter on the bench.... You obviously don't understand how the Badgers team picks each other up. Trice is not ready to step into that role at this point. Let him continue to come in, off the bench, as needed.

I wanted to see Ilkaanen in the game last night. Is he injured? We're going to need him when we hit the conference schedule.

I'm giving the Badgers a team "B-" for last night. They're a better team than they showed.

 

[57packer]

Yup, kind of a lackluster game last night. Good in stretches but too many lulls that I agree could hurt them in B1G play.

They have definitely settled into an 8-man rotation now. Illikainen and Hill have really fallen off the radar. Trice has basically taken Hill's minutes. Illikainen is just not ready. He, and the team, may regret that he did not red-shirt this year. The few times he played early in the season, he just look uncomfortable out there. Didn't know if he should shoot or when he should shoot. Defense was not great.

There was all kinds of talk on Badger sites in the off-season about all the options they had and questions about how the minutes would be divided. Turns out it was all just wishful thinking. Guys like Illikainen, Pritzl and Van Vliet just turned out to be not quite ready for prime time.