BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — You never forget your first. Especially if your first love is dunking.
"It was probably seventh grade during a gym class," Khalil Iverson said. "It was my first time."
Messing around, he'd try to grab the rim and throw it down. But this was legit. His first dunk.
"It was just kind of like a quick rush," he recalled. "It's exciting and it gets everyone excited."
Years later during an AAU game, it would lead to something much grander and permanent.
"My dad and uncle were my coaches," Iverson recounted. "It was halftime and they pulled me aside and they were going off on me because we were only leading by a few points. The first play out of halftime, I was picking up full-court and I got a steal and dunked. I ended up dunking three more times."
He was hooked. From that point on, he was a dunker. And he was labeled as such. But four years and 132 games into his UW career, he has an expanded arsenal. Along with his patented dunks, explosive as ever, he has shown off a pull-up jumper, a spin attack to the rim and even a Euro step.
More than anything else, the 6-foot-5 Iverson has been hunting his shots.
"I'm just being more aggressive," he said, "and a little more confident as well."
Shrugging, he added, "I'm feeling more comfortable I guess."
Iverson's comfort zone has translated into new found production with back-to-back double-doubles, the first of his career. Over the last six games, he's shooting 61 percent (33-of-54) and averaging 13 points. Sunday, he was not only a game-changer, but a game-saver at Ohio State.
After the Badgers frittered away a 23-point second-half lead, Iverson scored their only two baskets in overtime as they held off the Buckeyes, 73-67. In addition to his usual defensive presence, he finished with a team-high 22 points (10-of-14) and 14 rebounds (four offensive), both personal bests.
"I love that kid; he's just playing so aggressively," said redshirt junior Brevin Pritzl, who was in Iverson's recruiting class. "In the past, he has tried to play off everybody and make the right reads. But, lately, he has been trying to hunt his drives more. That's the biggest thing, his aggressiveness.
"We haven't had that out of him all year and you can see how much that helps because defenses have to honor him attacking the rack. He's getting to the rim. He's posting up. He has missed a couple of pull-ups. But you still have got to respect him as he shoots them. That's really the biggest help.
"Teams have to respect him as an offensive weapon.
"And that makes it easier for everyone else on the court."
Iverson, an Ohio native, was the first player to come out of the locker room Sunday because he wanted to spend a little extra time with his mom. When pressed on posting career highs, he said, "I just went out there and played to be honest. I felt comfortable. I don't really pay attention to stats."
On playing through contact on his drives and put-backs, Iverson conceded, "It guess you could say it helped being more aggressive in attacking. I definitely know when I'm going to the hole that people are reaching, fouling and scratching. I have a whole bunch (of scratches) on my arm."
Shrugging again, he said, "Sometimes it doesn't get called, so you just have to keep playing."
One popular theory has been advanced to explain Iverson's late-season surge.
"That classic case of senior urgency," said UW assistant Howard Moore.
Iverson doesn't necessarily subscribe to that explanation.
"I really don't think about the clock," he said, "or how much longer I've got to play."
Iverson's response was relayed to Moore and he broke out in laughter.
"Well, I don't know what else to attribute it to," he said. "But he's the type of kid that once he gets into a rhythm, it does work for him. He's not a quote, unquote shooter. But he has the ability to attack and be aggressive and make good plays with the ball.
"He can score around the basket and post and finish obviously with the best of them. His tenacity and defensive presence have developed over the years and that was something we could always rely on. To fill up the stat sheet a little more down the stretch…"
Pause.
"I'm going to attest to him seeing the light at the end of the tunnel."
The Badgers have encouraged Iverson to take the shots that maximize his strengths.
"We're in shooting drills and we're saying, 'Hey, these are the shots we want you to take in games,'" Moore said. "It gets to the point where maybe you just say to yourself, 'If they believe in me, I'm going to take them, and I'm going to make them.' There's a little bit of that as well.
"He has never forced anything. He has never tried to do too much or get out of his own box of who he is, and I really have a lot of respect for him doing it that way. But at this stage of his career, he's got the right to be a little more assertive and it's good to see him doing it now before it's too late."
Iverson has had a history of playing well against Illinois. When the Badgers played in Champaign on January 23, he was struggling on offense. He had scored in double-figures just once in the first 17 games. Plus, he had gone scoreless in three of the previous four taking only two shots in those games.
True to form, Iverson snapped out of his slump with 12 points and seven rebounds.
"The Illinois game allowed him to play within his strengths and attack," Moore said. "People were up on him and guarding him tightly which allows him to rip and go and make some plays that way. The matchups have been in his favor down the stretch which helps."
The timing couldn't have been better for the Illini rematch on February 18 in Madison considering he missed his only two field goal attempts the game before against Michigan State. Sure enough, he had 16 points and nine rebounds in the second Illinois win, the start of his current six-game streak.
It's no coincidence the Badgers have won five of the last six with the only loss coming in double-overtime at Indiana. Iverson did what he could against the Hoosiers scoring 15 points. When Iverson is posing a threat on offense, it can take some of the defensive pressure off Ethan Happ.
"People are so eager to use Khalil's man to help and double (Happ) and to plug up some things on offense," Moore said. "When he's mobile and moving and being a lot more active, it really helps. When he's cutting and screening, it opens up a lot more opportunities for others as well as himself."
A year ago, Iverson had arguably the most spectacular play in the Big Ten Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In a second game loss to Michigan State, he caught a lob from Brad Davison and brought the ball over his head for a stunning reverse alley-oop dunk.
"Nobody thought Brad was going to throw the lob and for him (Iverson) to read it and go get it and put it in the way he did, that's why you don't script things out," Moore said. "You just let players play and play to their abilities and that's what you had on that play."
Pritzl has seen Iverson's highlight reel plays up close. "It's always been there in practices and in games at times," he said. "That man is strong, he's built and he's explosive. It's not like he's making his moves in slow motion. He's making them fast and quick and that's what allows him to explode."
After the Ohio State win, Pritzl observed, "He put us on his back and said, 'Come on with me.'"
The Badgers are hoping to follow Iverson's new-found confidence deep into March.
