BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. – As a prep, Jordan Davis was a play-making wide receiver, a quality reflected by his 48 catches for 872 yards and 10 touchdowns during his junior year at La Crosse Central High School. He also took snaps in the secondary at safety and adopted a long-established defensive back mentality.

That is, Davis was the possessor of a Next Play Mentality.

In this football context, he understood the value of embracing a short-term memory, one of the tools of the trade. Especially at defensive back. Don't dwell or fixate on the last play. Good or bad. Move on with confidence to the next play. The basketball equivalent would be cultivating a Next Shot Mentality.

Davis didn't have to be reminded how valuable that has all become this season at Wisconsin.

"Trust me, believe me, I know,'' he said with a wry grin.

Twice, he has taken 3-point shots that have ricocheted off the side of the backboard. The first was against Marquette at Fiserv Forum. The second was against Lehigh at the Kohl Center. In each case, he was unfazed by the miss. Instead, he focused on the next shot. Both of which were 3-point makes.

"It doesn't affect me,'' Davis said of the errant jumpers, "because honestly I'm going to make that next one. That's just something I live by. I just have to keep a short-term memory. It's embarrassing … but everyone hits the (side of the) backboard once in their life. Or airballs a shot. 

"It's just a missed shot. It could have hit the rim and it would have counted as a miss, too.

"I try not to dwell on it too much and just keep shooting. Like the one I got in overtime.''

After missing his first attempt at the 4-minute mark of OT at Marquette, he drained a triple, less than two minutes later, breaking a 72-all tie in a game that the Badgers went on to win, 80-77. After missing the first shot of the Lehigh game, he made the first basket, another triple, one of four straight.

Davis finished with a career-high 14 points (4-of-6 from beyond the arc). It's the third time this season that he has scored in double-figures. He had 13 against Stanford and 11 against Green Bay. In those three games combined, he had 38 points. Last year, he had a sum total of 35 points in 27 games.

Davis has gone from averaging 6.5 minutes off the bench to 25 minutes as a starter.

"I'm new to this – this is my first time I had a starting position here,'' allowed Davis, who's averaging 7.1 points and 4.1 rebounds. "I'd say I'm off to a strong start. But I still have a lot to improve on offensively and defensively and probably being a leader, too … and I'm going to keep doing it.''

"It'' equates to improving. He believes it can start with his 3-point shooting percentage (.341, 14-of-41). Davis has the third most triples on the team behind Connor Essegian (24) and Chucky Hepburn (22). In a limited sample size his first two years, Davis was 10-of-33 (.303) from the 3-point line.

Iowa obviously didn't respect Davis or Tyler Wahl from the perimeter. In overtime, Wahl hit an uncontested 3 to draw Wisconsin into a 69-69 tie. Sixteen seconds later, Patrick McCaffery went under a screen and Davis made him pay with another uncontested 3 to once again forge a tie, 72-72.

The Badgers ended up with a 78-75 victory at Carver Hawkeye Arena. It was their third OT and seventh game decided by 5 points or less. Iowa's Connor McCaffery essentially confided afterwards that the Hawks didn't think of Wahl and Davis as outside scoring threats. That thinking burned them.

"That's their fault for going under the screen,'' Davis said. "I'm a shooter. That's what I think.''

People are learning he's a cutter; too, someone who moves with intent and purpose without the basketball. On the genesis of developing such a skill, Davis noted, "It was probably during my freshman year, I knew the ball wasn't going to be in my hands a lot so I would have to work off-ball.

"I learned off Brad Davison. I just saw how he moved without the ball. You never want to stay stagnant, and you always want to be in motion where your guy (the passer) can see you. I'm always looking to find an angle to see if they can pass it out to me. Or I'm seeing if I can make a backcut.

"You just want to be constantly moving because if you're set, you're easy to guard.''

Offensively, the Badgers have taken advantage of that movement with players who are adept at passing over the top of a defense. Like Wahl and Steven Crowl who leads Wisconsin with 38 assists (3.5), the second-most in the conference among "bigs'' behind only Illinois' 6-10 Coleman Hawkins (4.2).

"Some of the stuff he does,'' Davis said of Crowl, "7-foot guys shouldn't be able to do.''

Not every cut is going to draw a pass. Nonetheless, Davis noted, "Cutting without the ball, even if you don't get it (the pass), it opens up someone else. You're doing something positive by just moving because the defense will follow you and it creates gaps for other offensive players.''

After upping their season record to 9-2 with a rarity, a double-digit win over Lehigh, the Badgers will have some extra time off due to the cancelation of Friday night's Grambling State game. Their final nonconference tune-up will be Dec. 30 (Western Michigan) before re-entering Big Ten competition.

"We're making progress, I think we're moving in the right direction,'' Davis said. "But there's still a lot to work on, especially defensively. I know in the Lehigh game, we gave up some easy looks and we've got to clean that up if we want to get to where we want to go later in the season.''

Lehigh shot 56 percent in the first half and UW coach Greg Gard was unhappy with the lack of physicality on defense. Trailing 32-31 at intermission, Gard made it clear to his players in the locker room what needed to happen in the second half to avoid a potential upset on their home floor.

"It's just having that dog in you – having a more aggressive mentality where no one is going to come in here and punk us,'' Davis said. "I know coach Gard reiterated that message, 'C'mon, I know you guys are better than this …' We knew that, too, and wanted to show that we were the better team.''

That meant playing more physical. "It doesn't mean you have to go run someone over like in football,'' Davis said. "It just means showing that you're not going to be someone who's going to be easy to move around. You're going to be more physical and stronger than them.

"Being physical in basketball is having an aggressive mindset.

"Defensively, no one is going to go past you … and every rebound is ours.''

With some unexpected free time, Davis was looking forward to spending Christmas with family. "We're going to my grand-parents house in Westby – my mom's side of the family – with my little brother and sister and parents,'' he said. "Unfortunately, Johnny is not going to be there.

"This is the first time we haven't had a Christmas with the whole family. It's going to be weird.''

On Tuesday night, Johnny Davis came off the bench and played 32-minutes for the G-League's Capital City Go-Go in a 115-108 decision over the Motor City Cruise. Davis, the No. 10 overall pick of the Washington Wizards, had 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. The teams will play again Thursday.

"He's still got a lot of time to develop and grow – he's a rookie, he's 20-years-old, he's really young,'' Jordan Davis said. "He just has to keep working hard. Never get too high. Never get too low. Just stay the course. They put him on the Go-Go to get back his confidence and his flow of the game.

"They just want him to keep growing.''

As a first-year pro. As a first-time father. Just like what Jordan Davis is going through as a first-time uncle. Johnny's girlfriend Jessica Bruchs and their 4-month old baby girl, Sky Marie, were in La Crosse recently. And Jordan got a chance to go back home and hold his niece for the first time.

"It was amazing,'' said Jordan, beaming. "She's adorable, a really chill baby.''

As a first-time starter, Jordan Davis has remained "chill'' throughout his biggest developmental stage and step in the Wisconsin program, through thick and thin, through make or miss, a credit to his Next Shot Mentality. To this end, the Badgers just want him to keep growing.