MIKE LUCAS Senior Writer Related Content • Varsity Magazine

BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. — On Wisconsin's first offensive possession here Wednesday night, Zak Showalter was left completely unattended behind the 3-point arc, a designed strategy by Green Bay coach Linc Darner who subscribed to a "pick your poison" defensive philosophy.

"He was, I think, 10-for-29 on the year," Darner guessed.

Close enough. Showalter was 10-for-35 (.286).

"Made less than one a game," Darner reasoned.

Showalter had made more than one triple just once. On Nov. 27, he was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc against Prairie View A&M. But over the last four games, he was 3-of-12. That all played into Darner's thinking that the Phoenix could gamble defensively on Showalter.

It backfired.

"It was almost like he knew," Darner said, "we weren't going to come out and guard him."

Showalter hit his first 3-pointer and his next one and his next one.

"I always say that when you see that first one go in, it opens up the rim so much," the fifth-year senior said. "To make a couple in a row, you start feeling it. I had a little heat check on that fourth one."

That was a miss, his only miss from 3-point range in the first half.

"It was good to see the ball go in tonight," Showalter concluded.

Besides matching his career high with four triples, Showalter set a personal standard with six steals in helping Wisconsin extend its winning streak to six straight with a 73-59 win over Green Bay.

The Badgers shot 56 percent in the second half and turned it over just nine times in the face of "RP40" as opposed to 26 turnovers against last season's version of "Relentless Pressure for 40 minutes."

That has been the rallying point for Darner who admitted that the personnel and the personality of his defense has changed from one season to the next and the pressure has waned accordingly.

"We were coming at them," Showalter said, "instead of them coming at us on defense."

As a team, the Badgers had a season-high 13 steals.

"They were driving," said center Ethan Happ, "and we did a good job of squeezing the gaps."

Showalter was at his best poking the ball away without fouling. Not one of his first five steals was against the man that he was guarding, he estimated. His sixth was a step-in, run-out and score.

"People wanted me to dunk," he said with a sigh. "But I'm getting too old."

Along with his fifth double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) of the season, and fourth in six games, Happ added a couple of steals to his team-leading total of 19 and had a career-high six assists.

"It's awesome," Happ said, "that when I was kicking it out, they were knocking them down."

Seeing the ball go through the net can be contagious. Just ask Happ.

"That's what Showy (Showalter) was saying," Happ recounted, "he saw the first couple go through for him and he had really good confidence after that."

Happ figured that he would give it a shot. A jump shot. Or maybe it was a set shot.

"Whatever you want to call it," he said with shrug.

With 9:06 left in the first half, Happ set up just inside the 3-point arc and above the left elbow and made his first career shot outside of the paint on an assist fittingly from Showalter.

That drew a loud reaction from the crowd. "Bronson (Koenig) was saying that it's the loudest the Kohl Center has been this year," Showalter said. Happ's reaction?

"I'm not a shooter, so I don't really know that world yet, but it was nice to see it go in," said Happ, who felt rewarded for "all the hours that I've put in (shooting), morning and night."

In addition, he said, "If they're going to play off me that's what I have to do. It will help the team out if I can knock some of those down. So I'm going to continue to do so."

In the second half, Happ missed from just inside the free throw circle above the stripe. UW coach Greg Gard kidded that he wasn't ready yet to incorporate some pick-and-pop actions for Happ.

While he was delighted that all of Happ's hard work on his outside shot is starting to pay off, Gard still recognizes Happ's true value is close to the rim. He's shooting 69 percent from the field.

"For him (Happ), too, it's just about seeing the ball go through the rim," said Showalter. "Hopefully, as we go along, he'll get even more confident (outside the lane)."

Happ would settle for getting to the point where nobody would make a big deal out of him making a shot facing the basket. "Hopefully down the road," he said, "it's just a normal clap."

• Nigel Hayes has been on a career roll against Green Bay with 24 points Wednesday, 24 points last season; 25 points and 11 rebounds as a sophomore and 16 points and 8 rebounds as a freshman.
   
• Since going 1-of-7 on 3-pointers against North Carolina, Hayes has been more selective with his perimeter attempts. Over the last six games, he has made 4-of-6 shots from beyond the arc.
   
• During the 1991-92 season at Purdue, one of Darner's teammates was Travis Trice, the father of Wisconsin's freshman guard D'Mitrik Trice. The elder Trice started 21 of 33 games and averaged 19 minutes and 4.6 points. Darner started 11 of 33 and averaged 17 minutes and 4.5 points that season. Darner, a two-time captain, is not the only member of that '91-92 team, coached by Gene Keady, to get into the profession. The others are Cuonzo Martin (Cal) and Matt Painter (Purdue).
   
• The Badgers won't return to action until Dec. 23 against Florida A&M at the Kohl Center. The Rattlers (2-8), who compete in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, have two games before then. On Saturday, Florida A&M will play Jacksonville State. On Dec. 22, the night before the trip to the Kohl Center, the Rattlers will be in Birmingham, Alabama to face Samford.
   
• Showalter's six steals are the fifth most in school history for a single game. Eight others are tied with him, including Happ who had six steals at Illinois last season.
   
• The all-time co-leaders with 10 steals in a game are Michael Finley and Mike Kelley. Finley did it against Purdue in 1993 — Darner was on that Boilermakers team — Kelley did it against Texas in 1999.