Lucas: Win over Michigan shows Badgers’ maturity and toughness
February 28, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
Defensive grit coming together with team’s growing offensive firepower on the perimeter
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
If the UW's 6-foot-10, 246-pound Micah Potter needed any more incentive, he may have gotten some by not only stretching the defense with his 3-point shooting range but by fighting for position on the block with a "relative" — UM's 7-1, 265-pound Jon Teske, also a fellow Ohioan.
If the Badgers' top wing-scorer and rebounder Aleem Ford needed any more inspiration — especially in bouncing back from a two-point game against Rutgers — he may have found some by outplaying the Wolverines talented wing and leading scorer, Isaiah Livers.
If the skeptics needed any more proof that Wisconsin has matured and "toughened up" and come together as a team — complementing its trademark defense with a 3-point arsenal — they may have had their eyes opened wider by what they saw here Thursday night at the Crisler Center.
Leading wire-to-wire, the dogged Badgers extended their winning streak to five games while halting the Wolverines' streak at the same number with a convincing 81-74 victory that kept unranked, but undaunted, Wisconsin in the gridlock at the top of the jumbled Big Ten standings.
On the punch/counter-punch nature of this game with both sides trading runs, Trice said, "They hit us a few times. At the start of the half and late in the second half they came back and cut it within three at one point, but we just kept our poise, continued to battle back and kept that lead."
The Wolverines came out of halftime with an 8-0 run and pulled within 43-41 forcing UW head coach Greg Gard to burn a timeout at the 16:54 mark. Gard substituted freshman Tyler Wahl into the game and Wahl's triple later culminated a stretch in which the Badgers outscored Michigan, 16-6.
That showed toughness. And clutchness. Wahl was 1-of-16 from the 3-point line in the Big Ten.
"Everybody is playing confidently," Trice said. "The coaches have relaxed and fed us with a lot of confidence through practices and games. We're just having fun out there. We're feeding off each other's energy. The bench is excited. We're excited on the floor. The coaches are excited."
It was an exciting finish as the Wolverines used a 7-0 run to make it a one-possession game, 70-67, prompting Gard to call a 30-second timeout with 2:50 remaining. Seeking more of a defensive presence, he reinserted Nate Reuvers whose playing time was limited because of foul trouble.
Trice then went out and drained a 3-pointer from the left wing over Michigan's 6-9 freshman Franz Wagner and Reuvers gave the Badgers some timely production with a blocked shot (on Simpson) at one end and a banked fallaway jumper (his only basket of the night) at the other end.
"It was a game of runs," Potter said. "The biggest thing was making sure you don't back down. That's adversity when they go on a run. But with all the adversity that we've gone through, we've really stuck together and grown from it. That's a big reason why we were able to pull this one out."
The final 43 seconds were played out at the foul line with Wisconsin making 6-of-7 free throws between Trice, Ford and Brad Davison. On the season, the Badgers are shooting 77 percent from the stripe and are within striking distance of the school record (.818) set during the 2010-11 season.
What they're doing from the 3-point arc is also historic. Thursday marked the fifth consecutive game in which the Badgers made 10 or more 3-pointers. They went 11-of-23 against the Wolverines who have prided themselves on their perimeter defense. It was the most triples they've given up.
In Michigan's defense, it was playing without its best on-ball defender Eli Brooks who missed the game with a broken nose. Brooks also leads the Wolverines in 3-point makes and takes. Head coach Juwan Howard replaced the 6-1 Brooks in the starting lineup with 6-8 Brandon Johns.
With the Wolverines switching on screens, Trice, in particular, took advantage of his matchups against bigger, taller defenders. Last season, in the two Michigan games, Trice made a total of five shots. On Thursday night, he made his first five field goal attempts and finished with 28 points.
"It's definitely good to see the ball go in early," Trice said. "When I started off 2-for-2 and then 3-for-3 and 4-for-4 and 5-for-5, it just fed into my confidence. I just came out with an aggressive mindset. And when they switched, I wanted to create whether that was for myself or a teammate."
Potter was the beneficiary of some of Trice's post feeds.
"He has gotten really good at looking off the pass and getting the defender to bite on going back out and that leaves me wide open — that puts me in an easy situation," said Potter, who had 18 points, including 3-of-6 from beyond the 3-point arc, and seven rebounds.
"I'll set a good screen for him, I'll get him open to get that space and then I'll roll hard, and I'll trust him to make the right play whether he hits me or hits the opposite guy for a three. When I came out of the game, I looked at his mom and said, 'I love Meech.'"
That's Trice's nickname and his parents were seated behind the UW bench. Trice downplayed any rivalry with Simpson who responded to going scoreless (0-for-10) in his previous game against Purdue by establishing a career-high with 32 points (14-of-22).
Trice is from Huber Heights, Ohio. Simpson is from Lima, Ohio.
Meanwhile, Potter is from Mentor, Ohio. Teske is from Medina, Ohio.
"Our grandparents went to school together at Kent State and they were the best of friends in college and stayed the best of friends," Potter said of his friendship with Teske. "After his grandpa and my grandma died, my grandpa married his grandma, so we're technically step-cousins.
"My best friend ever is his cousin. And we're just super close with the whole Teske family. I talked to him a little bit on the court but in a competitive situation. It was just, 'Hi' or 'How are you doing?' Real quick and then we just kind of played."
So did Ford, who played his butt off with 18 points and eight rebounds. By comparison, Livers went 3-of-10 from the field and ended up with nine points and five boards. How important is Livers to the Wolverines? They were 5-5 when he was injured. They're now 13-5 when he plays.
Sounds familiar. Wisconsin is 13-5 with Potter, after going 5-5 without.
On Wednesday, Trice's younger sister, Olivia Trice, a freshman guard, scored a career-high 17 points for the Bowling Green women's team. On flight home Thursday, D'Mitrik handed out brownies that his mom baked and he was all smiles as made it clear that he couldn't let his baby sis outscore him.
"People had probably written us off," he said. "But we're just feeding off each other."
