MIKE LUCAS Senior Writer Related Content • Varsity Magazine

BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. – Charlie Thomas had a blank look on his face at halftime of last Wednesday night's game against Prairie View A&M at the Kohl Center.
              
"I don't know where my mind was,'' confessed the Wisconsin freshman.

His line in the box score was virtually blank with the exception of a steal and foul. He didn't take a shot. More glaringly, he didn't have a rebound, albeit in limited playing time, five minutes.
               
"I don't know what I was doing,'' he said. "I wasn't there.''
    
But he knew what he had to do.
    
"I had to step up the intensity, the aggressiveness and I had to get on the rebounding,'' Thomas said, "because I did none of that in the first half.''
    
In no uncertain terms, he heard about it, too, in the locker room. "My teammates and my coaches gave me a good talk on what I needed to do in the second half,'' he said.
    
To his credit, Thomas was a totally different player after intermission. He made all four of his field goal attempts, went 4-of-6 from the line and grabbed six rebounds, three on the offensive glass.
    
The 6-foot-8, 253-pound Thomas bounced back with 12 points in 10 minutes.
    
"I was way more focused,'' he said. "I just told myself to keep going hard, crash the boards and be more aggressive. I just needed a little light switch to go on. I let the game come to me.''
    
Last Sunday, Thomas took a similar approach into the VCU game.
    
"I wasn't worried about messing up or doing something wrong,'' he said. "I was taking whatever shot came to me and I was doing what I could to help the team.''
    
Thomas played a season-high 26 minutes and contributed nine points and five rebounds to Wisconsin's thrilling 74-73 victory over VCU in the 2K Classic at New York's Madison Square Garden.
    
"I'm learning a whole lot from the experiences; the game is a lot faster,'' he said. "I'm starting to learn how to adjust to not only what the coaches are saying but what the players are telling me, too.
    
"Even the smallest things – not getting a rebound or not going hard for a loose ball – it can bring you right out (of the game), so you have to learn how to hustle on every single play to stay in the game.''
    
Thomas is going through a normal transition for a first-year player. So is freshman Khalil Iverson who was the spark in the first half against Prairie View A&M with seven points and two steals.
    
"Everyone has their own little spurt and we feed off of that,'' said Thomas. "If you say, it was kind of a wake-up call (his first half Wednesday), I guess, that's a good thing that came out of it.
    
"I feel good, I feel confident.''
    
The Badgers will definitely need to get something out of their bench – notably Iverson and Thomas – in back-to-back road games at Oklahoma on Sunday and Syracuse on Wednesday.
    
Last November, Wisconsin knocked off the Sooners, 69-56, in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game in the Bahamas. Frank Kaminsky had 17 points, one of five players in double-figures.
    
The Badgers scored 27 points off 21 Oklahoma turnovers and held leading scoring Buddy Hield to just nine points on 2-of-11 shooting from the field, 2-of-7 from beyond the 3-point arc.
    
The 6-foot-4, 214-pound Hield, who was born and raised in the Bahamas (Freeport), went on to earn Big 12 Player of the Year honors. He started all 35 games and averaged 17.4 points.
    
Hield, a first-team preseason All-American, had 22 points in 22 minutes last Tuesday in Oklahoma's 96-63 win over Incarnate Word. In three games, he has 76 points in 80 minutes.
    
Hield is averaging 25.3 points, one of four players in double-figures for the 3-0 Sooners. Isaiah Cousins is averaging 12 points, Jordan Woodard and Ryan Spangler are averaging 10 each.
    
Wisconsin's junior guard Zak Showalter wasn't sure who was going to draw the defensive assignment on Hield. But he was critical of his own defense in the first half against Prairie View A&M.
    
As a team, the Badgers gave up seven triples in nine shots.
    
"I don't know what it is but teams are always hitting shots against us here,'' Showalter said of the Kohl Center. Western Illinois shot 54 percent, including 7-of-9 from beyond the arc, in an upset win.
    
"We didn't contest well enough (in the first half against Prairie View A&M). We were really worried about the drive more than we were ready to take away the 3's.
    
"But we adjusted to what hurt us and responded.''
    
Prairie View A&M missed its only 3-point attempt of the second half.
    
"We got a hand up more,'' Showalter said.
    
But he agreed it's tougher to play defense with a renewed emphasis on calling games tighter. The objective is to produce more scoring in college basketball by creating more freedom for offenses.
    
"It's tough to stay on the court with fouls,'' Showalter said of the by-product of the officiating crackdown. "You have to worry about not letting your man score and not fouling.
    
"Every second, you have to have that in the back of your mind. It's tough but we're figuring out how they're going to call it (from game to game).''
    
Showalter is flourishing in his role as a starter. In the VCU win, he had 10 points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks. Against Prairie View A&M, he had 14 points and three steals.
    
Unofficially, he's also among the national leaders in taking charges.
    
"I didn't think I would get them called as much but they're calling them,'' said Showalter who has drawn at least one charge in five of six games.
    
"If you're there, if you're set in (defensive) position – and I've been set a lot of times – it's tough not to call it and I'll keep doing it until they stop calling it.''
    
Meanwhile, Showalter has been encouraged by what he has seen out of Thomas and Iverson when called upon. "That was kind of the role I was in last year,'' he said. "Adding to the team.''
    
But he would be the first to acknowledge that this year's team is still a work in progress.
    
"Sometimes we can play really well, sometimes we struggle,'' Showalter said. "We have to eliminate those lulls that we tend to have a couple of times each game.
    
"And we have to focus more on staying positive and attacking the rim.''

An identity has yet to emerge; also understandable considering the personnel losses.

"It's going to take awhile for that,'' said Showalter, "just because we have so many new guys who haven't played. Offensively and defensively, it's going to take time.
               
"But we're getting better. We've come a long ways already and we'll keep going. That's why we schedule these games early on.''
    
He was speaking directly to Oklahoma, the antithesis of Wisconsin from an experience standpoint. The Sooners returned four players who have been starters in each of the past two years.

"We're going to have a lot of game film to watch on them,'' Showalter cracked.

Most of Oklahoma's highlights will revolve around the shooting of Hield who has a chance to become the Sooners' first consensus All-American since Blake Griffin.
  
 "This is another test for us,'' Showalter said, "and I'm excited."