BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Whenever Bill Raftery has visited a Wisconsin workout or shootaround before a telecast, he has routinely exchanged pleasantries and barbs with
Brevin Pritzl, an unabashed fan of the venerable college basketball analyst and former Seton Hall head coach.
"He has always joked with me at practice when I'm walking out and he has always given me a little jab the last couple of years," Pritzl said with a big smile. "It's always great when you get to talk with somebody who's that established and that esteemed."
After Wisconsin's convincing 77-61 win over Marquette here Sunday at the Kohl Center, the 76-year-old Raftery conducted the Fox Sports 1 postgame interview at center court with Pritzl, the UW's lone senior. It was the ultimate validation for Pritzl's 15 points and career-high 13 rebounds.
"When I walked over there and he was asking me a question, I thought, 'That's pretty dang cool,'" confided Pritzl, who energized his teammates with his overall play, especially on the glass. "I love listening to him call games. And it's funny to actually be the one who gets to talk to him.
"Hopefully, he said something nice about me on the broadcast."
One of Raftery's trademark words is "onions."
Pritzl and the Badgers showed that they had some against their in-state rival. After giving up a 10-0 run to the Golden Eagles midway through the first half, Pritzl helped reverse the momentum by scoring seven consecutive points as Wisconsin regained the lead and never trailed the rest of the game.
"My whole thing is when you come into the game, you've got to see what we're missing," Pritzl explained. "We started the game being really physical on the boards; we did a great job of boxing out. I felt, 'OK, I can't let that go.' My job then was to get in there and rebound. So, I did that.
"I noticed on the offensive glass they were just jumping for balls using their athleticism. I thought I could probably create some space and go get it and that's kind of where I made my money today by making the hustle play. That energy feeds through your whole body and I let it carry me."
Pritzl had four offensive and four defensive rebounds in the first half.
"I was trying to set the tone physically on the boards," he said. "At times, I think that has been our biggest difficulty. Coach (Greg) Gard has alluded to the physicality that we need to play with, especially because we're a Big Ten team and we've got to play that way.
"I took that message to heart. Coach (Joe) Krabbenhoft lit into me during practice Saturday and I really took that to heart because he wanted me to play with a little edge. I came in today and I knew what he wanted from me. That was a lot of fun in general. I kind of fed off everybody."
It was reciprocal.
"Everybody fed off his energy," said junior guard Brad Davison. "He was huge doing the intangible things — offensive rebounds, loose balls, energy, toughness, physicality — all the things that coach preached on and what we want our identity to be. He was kind of the epitome of that today."
When Pritzl was removed from the game with 48 seconds left, he got a rousing ovation from the Kohl Center crowd, representing another validation of his play. Soaking it all in, Pritzl went to the end of the bench and crouched in front of trainer Henry Perez-Guerra and strength coach Erik Helland.
"I just wanted to remember, 'This is why I came here,'" said the De Pere, Wisconsin native. "I've had a couple of games where I've shot well, but this was a game where I felt I encompassed my game. I rebounded, I attacked, I set screens. And I took it all in because we finally beat Marquette.
"I got recruited by them. And I remember Tuck (Alando Tucker) and Frank (Kaminsky) playing them in all those battles. It did mean a lot to come out and win that game. I want to leave my mark as a player who's going to play hard. Sometimes you're not going to make shots, but I want to be that guy."
Pritzl wasn't the only player challenged last week in practice. Everybody was.
"It was probably some of the toughest practices that I've ever had here, honestly, especially defensive-wise," said junior guard D'Mitrik Trice who recognized immediately that shutting down high-scoring Markus Howard was one of the reasons why the intensity was amped up.
"Practices were definitely taken up to another notch just because it was an opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of," Davison added. "It was our opportunity to have a big win early in the season and protect our home floor."
From the opening possession, the Badgers crowded shooters with a tenacious man-to-man defense that forced mistakes. They finished the game with 19 points off 15 Marquette turnovers. Howard and combo guard Koby McEwen had four each.
"Coach has been harping on us to pressure the ball more and getting a little bit more active on defense — using our hands and moving our feet," Trice said. "We came out with that energy in the first half and that set the tone for the rest of the game.
"We sped them up … now they're fumbling the ball, now they're traveling.
"Things like that got them out of character."
Davison saw it the same way as Trice.
"Coach has been harping on us to make them uncomfortable, whether they're dribbling the ball or coming off screens," he said. "Try to take them out of their game because comfortability breeds confidence and you want to make them as uncomfortable and as uncertain as you can."
Trice and Davison were the principle defenders on Howard who scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half and was held without a basket (0-for-9) in the second half. Besides following a detailed scouting report on Howard's tendencies, they communicated helpful tips throughout the game.
"Whenever we stepped in for each other," Davison said, "if he learned something, he would tell me about it and if I learned something, I would tell him."
"Like which way to force him (Howard) or what he liked to do," said Trice. "He likes the step back going left, he likes to drive going right. Things like that."
"Coach has been big on not dwelling on what happened, but being proactive and preparing for what's to come," Davison went on, "so even if he gets a bucket … learn from it."
The Badgers had six players in double-figures ranging from 10 points (Trice, Nate Reuvers, Kobe King) to 15 (Davison and Pritzl). All six played between 25 and 33 minutes.
Question is, can they bottle the way they played Sunday against Marquette?
"That's the goal," Davison said. "A lot of people asked, 'What's your identity? Is it offense? Is it defense?' We want our identity to be physicality and toughness and today that's what it was.
"Being a connected unit is what we want to bottle."
