BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Mike Lucas had a front-row seat as second-seeded Wisconsin dismantled sixth-seeded Northwestern 76-48 at the Big Ten Tournament in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. Here is what he saw from courtside.
DOUBLE-DOWN AT YOUR OWN PERIL
In their mid-February meeting, Northwestern attacked Ethan Happ with a hard double-team every time the ball entered the post. The primary attacker was Sanjay Lumpkin who helped limit Ethan Happ's touches (3-of-8 field goals) and effectiveness. As a result, the Wildcats outscored the Badgers, 26-12, in the paint which definitely factored into their 66-59 victory at the Kohl Center. The rematch was a much different story as Wisconsin routed the Wildcats, 76-48, with Happ and Nigel Hayes making sure the Badgers had a sizeable advantage (22-16) in paint scoring. "(Handling the double teams) has a lot to do with me," Happ said. "It starts with the ball and being more patient and composed. But also the other four guys were more aware of what was going on. We kind of figured it out that way."
Zak Showalter explained what went into dissecting Northwestern's interior defense. "We really watched the film (from the loss in Madison) and the coaches made some great adjustments to the sets that we could execute to take advantage of what they were throwing at us," said Showalter, who scored in double-figures (10 points) for a fifth straight game. "When we played them the first time that was really one of the first times that a team doubled the post really hard with Ethan. Over the past month-and-a-half, we've really faced a lot of double-teams and we've really grown in that area."
Although Happ took just six shots (4-of-6), he drew fouls and made repeated trips to the free throw line where he matched his season-high in makes with eight (8-of-11). After a prolonged slump from the stripe, including a 2-for-15 stretch coming into Saturday's game, what was the difference? "I've put in a lot of time and it's good to see some fall for me," said Happ whose FT percentage had dipped under 50%. "I'm starting to feel more comfortable there and hopefully it will continue."
Hayes, who finished with a double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds), utilized spin moves to either shoulder to get to the rim. He also stretched the defense by going 2-for-2 from the 3-point line. It was the first time since Dec. 3 — 2-of-2 against Oklahoma — that Hayes had more than one triple in a game. But it was his presence in the paint that really opened up the offense against the double-teams. "Nigel hit a couple of shots which makes them play more honest," Happ said, "and it definitely helped me."
A NOTE WORTH QUOTING
The Badgers had 15 assists on 27 made field goals against Indiana and 13 assists on 27 made field goals against Northwestern, including 7 on 13 baskets in the first half. By contrast, Northwestern had just five assists for the game, one in the first half; one until the eight-minute mark of the second half. "They guarded us pretty well," said Bryant McIntosh, who had just eight points (4-of-12) after scoring 25 in Madison. "They took a lot of our stuff away, they pushed us out on the floor. We didn't do a very good job of sharing the ball, either ... when you get this late into the tournament, it's about energy, and it's about effort. They beat us to every 50/50 ball. They deserved to win the game and we didn't. We didn't even deserve to be on the floor at some points. They just put it on us."
DID YOU NOTICE?
- The Badgers played without sophomore Khalil Iverson who returned to Ohio because of a death in the family. "Obviously, you feel bad for him," said Showalter, who expressed a sentiment that was shared by everyone in the locker room. "Khalil is my road dog, he's my roommate on the road," Happ said. "Everyone wanted to play our best for him. Our prayers and thoughts are for him and his family."
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- UW coach Greg Gard has rewarded Alex Illikainen's practice habits with some playing time. Illikainen has played seven minutes in each of the first two games of the Big Ten tournament. Against Northwestern, he made a nice cut without the ball, got a feed from D'Mitrik Trice and scored only his third FG in his last eight appearances. "Alex is starting to turn the corner a little bit," Gard said.
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- Senior forward Vitto Brown matched his season-high with eight rebounds, four on the offensive glass. His Big Ten high had been seven. Along with contributing eight points, 2-of-5 from the arc, he also logged his second-most minutes (27) in that last 25 games. Brown gave the Badgers a lift during the 2016 postseason by scoring in double-figures in three of four games (10-of-20 on 3-pointers).
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- Andy North got a louder cheer than Elaine Benes (aka Julia Louis-Dreyfus) when they were shown on the scoreboard video screen. No soup for you (Northwestern)! Louis-Dreyfus, the former Seinfeld star, now starring in her own series "Veep", was present along with her producer/director husband Brad Hall. Their son, Charlie Hall, is a walk-on player for the Wildcats.
A QUOTE WORTH NOTING
Here's what Michigan senior Zak Irvin had to say when asked if the Wolverines feel like a Team of Destiny after surviving a harrowing experience (their charter plane slid off the runway) in just getting to Washington, D.C.: "I think the incident just brought us closer as a team and as a family. We're just going out there playing really connected — playing for one another."
THE SKINNY ON MICHIGAN
Wisconsin looks for its fourth Big Ten tournament title on Sunday when it takes on No. 8 seeded Michigan in the championship game. The Badgers and Wolverines tip at 2 p.m. (CT) on CBS.
Take it for what it's worth: But the word is that Wolverines point guard Derrick Walton Jr. felt slighted because he wasn't recognized as first-team All-Big Ten and Walton took out his frustrations on Minnesota's Nate Mason who was honored on the first team. Walton outscored Mason, 29-23, and owned stretches of their 84-77 win over the Gophers. Besides going 10-for-10 at the free throw line, Walton got his teammates involved offensively with nine assists and just one turnover in 37 minutes. Moritz Wagner had 17 points (6-of-7 FGs) one day after D.J. Wilson burned Purdue with 26 in Michigan's 74-70 overtime win over the No. 1-seeded Boilermakers. How much will the Wolverines have left in their tanks for a fourth game in four days? They beat Illinois by 20 points on Thursday and knocked off No. 1 Purdue on Friday.
Wisconsin and Michigan split their regular season series with the Badgers winning 68-64 in Madison (Bronson Koenig had 16 points) and the Wolverines winning 64-58 in Ann Arbor (Wagner had 21). Koenig didn't play in the second game because of a calf injury. Freshman D'Mitrik got his first career start and struggled offensively (2-of-15). Still, the Badgers had a 38-30 lead with 17:35 to play, but the Wolverines made all of the plays down the stretch to off-set Happ, who had 22 points (10-of-13 FGs).
GARDO SEZ
"Michigan has bigs (Wagner and Wilson) that can stretch you and a point guard (Walton) that's playing as well as any point guard in the country. They're one of the teams that has more seniors than we do. That experience is starting to show … There's not going to be anything secret. They know what we do. We know what they do. It will be two pretty good teams going at each other."
