Lucas’ 3-pointers: Wisconsin at Illinois
February 06, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
Three things to know before the Badgers play the Illini
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The 19th-ranked Badgers travel to Champaign, Illinois on Saturday to play the 12th-ranked Fighting Illini. Here are three things to know:
1. Dialed In Davis
In a turnaround-is-fair-play moment, Jonathan Davis stole the ball from Penn State's Jamari Wheeler, the Big Ten leader in steals, and converted the turnover into a 3-pointer. It was his first triple since the conference opener (Dec. 22) against Nebraska when Davis opened Wisconsin's scoring with a 3. He missed his only other attempt from distance in the second half. Overall, he went 0-for-9 over the next 10 games prior to scoring from distance against the Nittany Lions on his only shot attempt in the first half during which he was anchored to the bench with foul trouble for all but three minutes and 41 seconds. But he made up for lost time in the second half.
Logging nearly 15 minutes, Davis made 5-of-6 shots, including 3-of-3 from 3, and finished with a career-high 17 points. His four triples matched what he had through the first 18 games. Confided Davis, "I've been dealing with a little bit of confidence issues for the past couple of games. I really haven't been attempting a lot of 3's. But to see the first one in a while go down (in the first half) was a really good feeling."
His teammates were not surprised by his offensive explosion. Said Brad Davison, "The sky is the limit. He's athletically gifted … his first step, his second jump, all those intangible things that you can't really teach …He can get to places a lot of other guys on our team can't get to … he's got the ability to get to the rim, the mid-range, the 3-point shot. He's got the whole package, so we're going to continue to encourage him and tell him to be aggressive and make plays."
In Big Ten games only, Davis leads the Badgers in steals with 13, one more than Davison, the overall leader with 20. Davis has at least one steal in five straight (eight of nine) and matched his high with three against Penn State. In all areas, UW coach Greg Gard has seen steady growth in Davis, a true freshman from La Crosse, Wis. "He's continued to work on his game and shooting is something that he spends time on and gets a lot of reps in," Gard observed. "He didn't shoot 4-for-4 before — or shoot that prolific — because maybe he wasn't ready to shoot 4-for-4." Now he is. "Hopefully," Gard said, "it helps grow his confidence. The other thing is … he's just scratching the surface on the type of player that he can be."
At times, of course, Davis still plays like an inexperienced freshman. And opponents can speed him up, a sign of youth. After turning it over six times last Tuesday night against Penn State — "I've got to work on being stronger with the ball in practice" — he took to heart what Gard told the team at halftime. "His message was to just slow down, hit the brakes a little bit," Davis related. "Be composed. Make the right reads." Davis has already won over the locker room. "He has such a bright future," Davison said. "We all trust him."
2. Scoring "Points" (Without Scoring)
During a nine-game stretch (Dec. 25 through Jan. 27), D'Mitrik Trice was one of the hottest players in the league scoring 10 or more points nine times. Trice had 20-plus in four of the first five games during that span, starting with 29 against Michigan State and 25 against Maryland. He has finally cooled off. Or rather the Nittany Lions have cooled him off. Trice had just six points at Penn State and was held scoreless in the rematch at the Kohl Center.
It was the first time that he was blanked since last January when he failed to score in back-to-back games against Maryland and, guess who, Penn State. Nonetheless, he still found ways to contribute to Tuesday's win. Not only did he have a game-high six assists to go along with just one turnover in 34 minutes, but he also helped shutdown the Nittany Lions' leading scorer Myreon Jones who had six baskets on 15 field goal attempts.
It was one of the first things that caught Gard's eye in the box score. "He holds Myreon Jones to 14 (points) on 17 shots, including two free throws," Gard said. "That was the focus for him." Trice was pragmatic after going 0-for-5 from the field. "I tried not to think about it too much," he said. "I stay confident — always — in everything I do. There's obviously other ways that I can impact the game rather than just scoring."
Over the last seven games, the Badgers have had seven different leading scorers, a portrait of balance. Said Gard, "That's the nice thing about having a balanced team. You can have your starting point guard not score. But six assists, one, turnover, that's a good, productive night; 12 points at least based on what the assists were off him making plays for others. We're harder to guard when we can disperse it and have more people scoring. But that's good to have other people step up and pick-up where maybe he was struggling a little bit."
3. Beef On The Block
It was difficult for the Badgers to simulate Illinois' Kofi Cockburn on the scout team. The 7-foot Cockburn is listed at 285 pounds, a charitable estimate. Freshman Steven Crowl was often cast in the Cockburn role during practices. Crowl is also a 7-footer. "But he's probably 100 pounds lighter," said Trevor Anderson, laughing. Crowl is actually listed at 217. "He did a good job," Anderson went on. "He's such a good passer and he gave us good looks." Crowl switched off with sophomore Joe Hedstrom, the other Cockburn impersonator.
As far as the real Cockburn, a baby Shaq, there are not many physical matches in college basketball. Cockburn, a sophomore from Kingston, Jamaica, leads the NCAA with 12 double-doubles. He's averaging 18 and 11 in the Big Ten. His tag-team partner in the paint is Giorgi Bezhansihvili (6-9, 245) who had 20 points the last time Wisconsin played in Champaign, Ill., a game that the Badgers won in late January of 2019 behind Nate Reuvers who had 22 points and 10 rebounds.
It was a forgettable game for Ayo Dosunmu who was limited to just eight points and managed to make only four of 16 shots (0-of-5 from the 3-point line). It was a much different Dosunmu at the Kohl Center last season. He was the closer making clutch buckets in the final seconds to guide the Illini back from a seven-point deficit to a 71-70 win. The 6-5 Dosunmu is on pace to become just the third Big Ten player since 1993 to average 20 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. In order to extend their seven-game winning streak at the State Farm Center — the last loss was in 2011 — the Badgers will obviously have to contain Dosunmu and Cockburn. Opined Trice, "The key is not to let them get to where they want to get to. Don't let them get comfortable from the start. Be the aggressor and kind of set the tone on what is going to happen in the game."
