BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Mike Lucas had the best seat in the house for Wisconsin's 70-69 overtime win at Nebraska. Here is what he saw from courtside.
THE DAGGER
With Nebraska holding a 69-67 lead, the officials huddled at the scorer's table for a video review with 53.6 seconds left in overtime. In question was a pass from Nigel Hayes to Bronson Koenig in the right corner that was ruled on the floor to have deflected out of bounds off Tai Webster's left hand.
"In my mind, I didn't know if Webster touched it or not," Hayes admitted. "I honestly thought that I threw it out of bounds. I was like, 'Damn, I just turned the ball over.' But luckily the basketball gods were with us and we were able to get another possession."
It was determined that there wasn't enough to overturn the call. But the Badgers weren't able to capitalize. Koenig missed a shot and Ethan Happ fouled the rebounder, Ed Morrow, who had been out of action since Jan. 14 with a foot injury. He was the right player to put on the line in this situation.
With 42 seconds remaining, Morrow, who was only shooting 50 percent (7-of-14) from the stripe in league games, missed both attempts. Off the second miss, Happ got the rebound and Wisconsin coach Greg Gard called a timeout to map strategy with 25 seconds to play.
Since Koenig had banked a 3-pointer at the 1:44 mark of OT to pull the Badgers into a tie, it made sense the Huskers would try to get the ball out of his hands, which they did with Webster and 6-foot-9 Michael Jacobson who overplayed Koenig at the expense of leaving Hayes open.
"We had run that play earlier where I caught the ball on the wing," said Hayes. "We ran the same thing at the top (of the key), I popped back, they went with Bronson and I was able to knock down a shot … If I had missed my last 30 3s, I'd still take that one."
Hayes had missed eight of his last nine 3-pointers over the last three games.
But he made the only one that he took against the Huskers, the dagger, the game-winner.
IT'S NEVER OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER
The Badgers still needed to come up with a defensive stop after the Hayes 3-pointer.
With eight seconds left in regulation, the Cornhuskers, who trailed by three, tried to set up a shot for guard Glynn Watson (.411 from beyond the arc in the Big Ten) but the Badgers jumped Jacobson's ball screen on the wing and Watson went to Plan B: Jacobson on the pick and pop.
Even though he had not attempted a 3-pointer since the Big Ten opener against Indiana (Dec. 28) and had only three makes in 21 attempts from outside the arc (6-of-37 for his career), Jacobson hit a clutch triple to send the game into overtime.
But neither Watson nor Jacobson were the options with 14 seconds remaining in OT. Instead, the play was designed for Webster, a down-hill driver. Cutting across the lane from right to left, Webster was challenged off the dribble by Zak Showalter and Hayes who rotated in his path.
Anticipating Webster would be the shooter, Happ retreated off his man (Morrow) and the right lane line and blocked Webster's shot. Not only that, he grabbed the ball and called timeout. The Huskers were forced to foul, Hayes missed both free throws, but Nebraska never got off a desperation heave.
That's because it was Happ to the rescue again, poking the ball away from Jacobson.
A QUOTE WORTH NOTING
On playing only seven minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, Hayes said, "It's about mental toughness. I tried to be a mature player. It's not the first time I've had to sit out (because of fouls). I stayed engaged. I talked to the guys. And I learned a lot by watching the first half and what was going on, and what I could do when I got back in."
DID YOU NOTICE …
- After Webster scored the first basket of overtime, Showalter countered with a four-point play (a triple and free throw). Showalter matched his career-high with four 3-pointers (4-of-6).
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- Playing a career-high 23 minutes, Brevin Pritzl drew a charge on Jeriah Horne (the first of his life, he would say later), scored on a post-up against 6-8 Jack McVeigh and converted his only two free throw attempts.
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- Hayes scored nine straight points between 14:46 and 10:15 of the second half, opening with a dunk over McVeigh and closing with a put-back dunk on the third offensive rebound of the possession.
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- The Badgers brought out their 3-2 zone for a couple of possessions because Gard "was trying to buy a little time to save some fouls" on Hayes and Happ. Khalil Iverson was at the point of the zone.
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- Late in regulation, D'Mitrik Trice went to the floor and got a tie-up with Morrow. Trice was a high school QB prompting Gard to say, "He was like a quarterback diving on a fumbled snap."
A NOTE WORTH QUOTING
The Badgers have won eight straight overtimes — three this season — and 11 of the last 12. On the mindset going into the OT, Hayes said,: "Me, personally, I try to stay cool and calm whenever you have the ups and downs of a game. We didn't lose with that shot (by Jacobson). We had another five more minutes to play and another opportunity (to come away with the win)."
THE SKINNY ON THE 'CATS
Although Northwestern appears to be on track for its first NCAA tournament in history, the Wildcats have dropped their last two games to Purdue (80-59) and Illinois (68-61). Leading scorer Scottie Lindsey (15.4 points per game) has been sidelined indefinitely with mono. The offense revolves around Bryant McIntosh, one of the top point guards in the Big Ten (133 assists), and Vic Law, who's averaging 13.6 points and 6.1 rebounds. Last season, the Badgers lost 70-65 in Evanston, Illinois, which was both a low point (dropping their record to 1-4 in the Big Ten) and springboard (to a seven- game winning streak).
GARDO SEZ
"Our effort was good (at Nebraska). Our execution has got to get a lot better. We know that we're getting everyone's best shot. We haven't clicked on all cylinders. We need to get better. But give credit to our guys — they found a way to gut it out."
