Lucas: In the moment, Jackson and Showalter come up big
March 27, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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March 27, 2015
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com
LOS ANGELES -- It was more about the "moment" than the minutes here Thursday night for Travon Jackson and Zak Showalter. Combined, they didn't even play a full half.
But their timely contributions impacted Wisconsin's 79-72 win over North Carolina and helped advance the Badgers into an Elite Eight rematch with Arizona Saturday at Staples Center.
"It gave us a boost when Trae hit his first shot because it was like `Trae is back' and I'm sure he was feeling good about it; it just pumped us up," Nigel Hayes said of Jackson, who missed 18 games with a foot injury and ceremoniously buried his first shot attempt since early January, a 3-pointer.
"But we wouldn't have won this game without Showy's -- what was that? -- a two-minute span or a one-minute span with those plays that he made for us," Hayes continued. "If he wouldn't have done that we wouldn't be talking about us winning right now."
Trailing 60-56, Frank Kaminsky jump-started the offense with a 3-pointer at 6:32 of the second half. Fittingly, too, it was Showalter's use of a pass fake that led to an assist on Kaminsky's triple. It was his first and only attempt from beyond the arc against North Carolina.
After the Badgers got a defensive stop, Showalter executed a perfect backdoor cut on the Tar Heels' sophomore guard Nate Britt, who turned his head and got burned badly when Josh Gasser fed Showalter for a layup that pushed Wisconsin into a 61-60 lead.
Britt might have been still thinking about that defensive lapse when he was bringing the ball up the floor because Showalter outmaneuvered and outmuscled him for a steal and a runout basket which was followed shortly thereafter by a Sam Dekker drive to the rim and finish.
Dekker protected the ball in traffic like a running back attacking a goal-line defense, much to the delight of all the quarterbacks in the audience, including Aaron Rodgers and Scott Tolzien from the Green Bay Packers and Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks.
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| "We didn't feel incomplete, because guys step up when a man goes down," Hayes said of Jackson. "But with Trae coming back that just gives us another weapon." |
The 9-0 run electrified the UW contingent.
"Sho (Showalter) was just ballin'," Jackson said afterwards. "I was just excited for him. It was funny because right before he hit his first layup, it was a dead ball and I told him, `Be aggressive, Sho,' and he didn't look at me but he scored and he said, `I heard you.'"
Jackson admitted that his own play was a little inconsistent, not that he played much, just nine minutes. "There were a lot of ups and downs in my emotion," he said. "But I'm just grateful and blessed to be back on the court; I'm just happy to be back out there."
On what he was feeling when he first entered the game, Jackson said, "That was amazing. I was just thinking, `Thank you, Lord.' I was also thinking, `Buckets. Let's go.' I was excited; right after that (making his 3-pointer) I missed a floater. But I was feeling it, `Man, it's going to go in.'
"It was just about learning throughout the game and staying ready throughout the process; it's a little different coming off the bench. The biggest difference is being ready at any moment (to go in). I honestly didn't know if I was going to get back in at the end of the game.
"That's the thing, you just have to stay ready and stay focused. Also it was about playing with a joy and being able to smile, that was the biggest thing. I expected myself to do better things, to do more, to play more minutes. I didn't know what would happen. I was prepared for anything."
So obviously was Showalter, who had six points, one rebound and one assist in eight minutes. "This was a battle," said Showalter, sporting blood on his arm. "They (the Tar Heels) played tremendous; they made shots that we weren't expecting them to make (they were 8-of-13 on 3-pointers, double their average).
"They gave us everything we could handle and we just overcame it."
If it looked like Showalter was running out of gas on his "run-out" following the steal, he was. "The second that I got the ball, I took one step and both of my legs started to cramp up," he said. "I was like, `Oh, boy, how am I going to get all the way down the court?' Luckily we got two points out of it and I think it was big for our team."
With Jackson's return, the Badgers are now back at full strength, which potentially could lead to fewer minutes for someone like Showalter. But he doesn't look at it that way. "You have to be mentally tough and not get down on yourself when something like that happens," Showalter said. "I'm just happy for Trae that he gets to come out there and be with us. It's good for our team."
That has been a popular refrain throughout this historic season.
It's always team first, and whatever is good for "our" team.
"They're really, really tough kids," said North Carolina coach Roy Williams.
And they may be all the tougher to beat with Jackson returning and Showalter scoring.
Are they more complete as a team?
"We didn't feel incomplete, because guys step up when a man goes down," Hayes said. "But with Trae coming back that just gives us another weapon. It was useful. Bronson (Koenig) was in foul trouble and Trae and Showy were able to come in and contribute."
Hayes thought that Jackson looked a little rusty.
"But he will be ready Saturday," he promised.
