Lucas: ‘We dove in as a team together’
March 02, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
Badgers pick up key win against Border Battle rivals, will celebrate seniors this week
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — By his own estimation, it began to get real about four days ago. It started to sink in that he was approaching the finish line at the Kohl Center and the curtain was about to close for a final time on his stage of the last five years at 601 West Dayton Street.
"It finally hit me," Brevin Pritzl said, "I'll probably never play in here again."
There were no tears upon reflection following Sunday's intense 71-69 victory over Minnesota in a classic Border Battle featuring 17 lead changes. And Pritzl promised there would be none Wednesday during the Senior Night festivities before and after the Northwestern matchup.
"I won't cry," he reiterated, "but I'll probably feel a pit in my stomach after the game."
He knows that it wouldn't be right if he didn't feel something. And he has all along.
"It has been kind of surreal," said the 23-year-old Pritzl, who has appeared in 120 games for the Badgers since arriving on campus in 2015 from De Pere, Wisconsin. "The last couple of games, the fans have been starting to give me a nice applause as I come out. You notice those little recognitions."
After recording a double-double (15 points, 13 rebounds) in a mid-November win over Marquette at the Kohl Center, an appreciative Pritzl received a rousing ovation upon leaving the game in the closing seconds which reminded him, "This is why I came here."
It crossed his mind again Sunday night after holding off the Gophers.
"A lot of people would love to play in their home state and have those opportunities — I feel really blessed," said Pritzl, who was redshirted as a true freshman because of foot injuries and served one season as a part-time starter (2017-18) before starting five of the last eight games.
"I've just been laying it out every game, I think you can see that. I'm just giving everything I have. I'm not the most gifted all the time. It's just finding that continual aggressiveness. At times the last couple of years I'd show it in spurts and it would just kind of fall off.
"Knowing that it's my last chance, knowing that I don't know what the future holds, and I may never play again, you really have to buckle down and enjoy it. So, I'm going to enjoy every moment like I have the last couple of months. I'm just enjoying every day."
After earning his undergraduate degree in kinesiology in December of 2018, Pritzl is completing work this semester on his master's in educational leadership and policy. "I'd like to work in strength and conditioning at some point of my life," he said. "I have some time to figure it out."
Pritzl got engaged to Joelle Stewart last May and they plan on getting married next May. Since the Badgers took a five-game preseason tour of New Zealand and Australia in 2017, he has always been intrigued about the possibility of relocating someday to that part of the world.
"I would love to play there, if I could," he said. "I would also like to live there."
But for now, he has been living in the moment, a six-game winning streak.
"At the beginning of the year, we went through some rough spots and we kind of got clicking the last two months, I'd say," Pritzl noted. "We've kind of figured it out for the most part … we've really bonded together in the face of all the adversity that has hit us. We dove in as a team together."
Minnesota was the final leg on the UW Payback Tour. In February, the Badgers atoned for road losses at Michigan State, Purdue and Rutgers by winning the rematches at the Kohl Center. And on Sunday they erased the bitter taste from their February 5 loss to the Gophers in Minneapolis.
They haven't lost since then.
"It's a credit to our guys," said UW coach Greg Gard. "There's nowhere else that you look to than those guys in that locker room and what they've done and how they've unified, bonded together and played for each other and played for what's on the front of their jerseys."
The Badgers are in a three-way tie for second place in the Big Ten standings, one game behind Maryland. The very fact that they've survived so many challenging stretches hasn't been lost on Gard. Especially since they are within striking distance of claiming a share of the Big Ten title with two regular-season games left.
"They've handled things in a very mature, appropriate way," Gard stressed. "They've walked through this season day-to-day and handled all the challenges that have come at them both internally and externally, in a right manner and it's paid off.
"It has been a great life lesson experience for them that if you stay true to who you are, stick together and help the guy to your right and your left, a lot of good things can happen. I can't be more proud of what they've accomplished to this point and the neat thing is that they want more."
As a graduate senior, Pritzl has personified what Gard was saying.
"He has done a great job of being a vocal leader which he wasn't always doing before in practice. He's very observant in games. He's got a coach's mind because he reads things on the floor and he's able to give me some suggestions on what he's feeling and seeing.
"He has done what a senior should do — he has stepped on the gas."
Among the hungriest for a Gophers payback was Pritzl who failed to score (0-for-7) in the first meeting, a humbling 70-52 loss and the largest margin of victory for Minnesota over Wisconsin in 28 years. "Horrible," Pritzl winched. "We came out flat."
It was a much different storyline Sunday for not only Pritzl, but for junior guard Brad Davison, who also failed to make a shot from the field (0-for-3) at Minnesota's Barn. In the first half, Davison carried the offense with 13 points and finished with 20, bouncing back from a six-point outing (2-of-7) at Michigan.
As a result, Davison is the first player to lead the Badgers in scoring twice during the win streak prompting Gard to point out afterwards, "That just shows you not only the uniqueness of this team, because we do it by committee, but also the unselfishness of the group."
There were some telling possessions against Minnesota in the final two minutes.
After the Gophers took their largest lead of the second half, 66-62, on Gabe Kalscheur's layup, Davison cut into the deficit with two free throws and the Badgers got a pivotal defensive stop when D'Mitrik Trice denied the ball to Marcus Carr and Nate Reuvers did likewise to Daniel Oturu.
That forced excessive dribbling by Payton Willis and a missed 3-pointer by Isaiah Ihnen.
After Trice grabbed the defensive rebound, Gard called timeout with 1:11 remaining.
"We're very connected," Davison said, "especially offensively."
On the subsequent possession, Davison missed a shot from the deep left corner, but Aleem Ford was able to back-tap it beyond the key. "He smacked it real hard," Pritzl observed.
Davison bowled over Kalscheur in chasing down the 50/50 ball. He simply wanted it more.
"Late in games refs are probably not going to call that (on Davison)," said Pritzl. "It's a tip drill and Brad made that hustle play with two tips — he got the second one up in the air and Meech (Trice) was able to steal it from Carr. You're in a scramble situation, so you know what you do?"
Pausing on the rhetorical question, he continued, "You find the 3-point line."
Pritzl positioned himself in the left corner and Trice found him.
"I was there waiting," Pritzl said. "I took an extra second to take my time and knock it in."
Pritzl's 3-pointer pushed the Badgers into a 67-66 lead with 56.2 left. The Gophers then went ahead on an Oturu jumper and Gard called another timeout with 38 seconds on the clock. Pritzl had a good feeling on a certain action that might take advantage of the defense. Sure enough, it did.
The Badgers exploited the inexperience of Ihnen, a 6-foot-9 freshman from Germany. Trice drew the coverage, Reuvers flared drawing Ihnen's attention and Ford executed a back-cut along the baseline that left him wide open at the rim for the delivery from Trice and a dunk.
Reuvers then came through with the defensive play of the game when he blocked Oturu's shot. Pritzl grabbed the rebound, was fouled and converted both free throws for the winning points.
"Oturu was giving us problems all game," Pritzl said. "But Nate followed the (defensive) rules and stayed down and just waited. That was exactly what we've been teaching. Really stay down on those post moves and force a tough (shot) and he was able to do that."
Resilience is contagious. After making just 2-of-21 shots over the last three road games, Pritzl was back in his comfort zone at the Kohl Center where he now has scored in double-figures in six straight games. Overall, the Badgers are 11-0 when he scores 10 or more this season.
"It's not that I can't shoot on the road, because I have," said Pritzl, who had 17 points at Tennessee. "But, at home, everybody plays a little better. You're a little more familiar with your hoops. When you're in a little bit of a (road) drought, I was able to find a little crack of sunlight."
The spotlight will be shining on Pritzl here Wednesday night in his final home game.
"I just want to give the fans," he said, "the best I can one last time."
