Lucas: Jordan’s turn
February 24, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
Davis plays critical role in Badgers win at Minnesota
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — During Wednesday morning's shootaround, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard introduced the "newcomers" on his roster to a time-honored tradition in the Border Battle. Whenever the Badgers face Minnesota at venerable Williams Arena in Minneapolis, he always stages a "roll off the floor" drill, a routine that started with Gard's mentor, Bo Ryan.
One of the defining characteristics of "The Barn" – besides its age, the venue turned 94 this month – is the unique raised floor, two feet above the ground. To ensure that the players don't shy away from aggressively pursuing loose balls, 50/50's on the fringe of the playing surface – for fear of the drop-off – the Badgers actually practice rolling off the floor.
Considering Wisconsin hadn't played at Williams Arena since 2020, there were plenty of newbies to this drill Wednesday. Two full classes and transfers. Among them was sophomore Jordan Davis. It was not the first time Davis had been on the Minnesota campus. When he was at La Crosse Central High School, he took a recruiting visit for football. Davis was a talented prep wide receiver.
Later, he also tagged along with twin brother Johnny on a basketball visit.
"It was mainly for Johnny," Jordan admitted. "They really weren't looking at me for that."
Not only did Jordan Davis stick his landing upon rolling off the floor Wednesday – "I thought I did one of the best ones" – he capped the shootaround by making a half-court shot, the game-winner in the competition between the bigs and smalls. Maybe it was karma. Maybe it was a foreshadowing of things ahead for Jordan, who said, "I was proud of that – maybe I just settled in."
Before the opening tipoff that night, there was the sense that Jordan Davis would get more playing time against Minnesota because the Badgers were minus two backcourt players: Jahcobi Neath, who was suspended for the game; and Lorne Bowman who has been ill. In the first meeting between the teams, a 66-60 Wisconsin win on Jan. 30 at the Kohl Center, Jordan didn't get off the bench.
Over his last four appearances combined, he had played a total of 10 minutes, 7 of which were at Indiana. He logged all of 49 seconds in Sunday's victory over Michigan. And yet when the Badgers needed him the most Wednesday against the Gophers, especially after Johnny Davis fouled out, Jordan Davis delivered with 7 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in Wisconsin's 68-67 win at Williams Arena.
In 20 minutes and 13 seconds, a career-best, Jordan was a plus-11, the highest mark on the team. He made all three of his field goal attempts, including a triple. It was the first time that he had scored since Jan. 9 at Maryland where he also made a 3-pointer. Since then, he had taken just seven shots in eight games. The most obvious question is, How does someone stay ready, locked and loaded?
.@jordan_davis_23 scores another s w e e t 2 for @BadgerMBB. pic.twitter.com/DWDlvhdcET
— Wisconsin On BTN (@WisconsinOnBTN) February 24, 2022
"I just stayed confident in myself and I mentally prepared to be in the moment because I never know when I'm going to come in the game," said Jordan whose most sustained playing time came in December when he got 12 minutes against Indiana and 16 at Ohio State in back-to-back outings. "Coach Gard always says, 'Stay ready so you don't have to get ready.' I think I did a good job of that tonight."
At 8:56 of the first half, Jordan Davis scored on a floater in the lane. An ice breaker. It was huge from this perspective, he pointed out, "That just got me settled in. When you get a bucket, you can breathe. You're in the moment now. That kind of got me going. And, then, with guys being in foul trouble, I knew that I had to step up and do whatever I could to impact the team."
His biggest impact, by far, was felt in the second half. With the game tied, 44-all, Davis knocked down a 3-pointer in the face of Payton Willis who was slow to close. With the Badgers clinging to a 52-50 lead, he then got the hockey assist on a Steven Crowl layup. The three-way passing gem went from Jordan Davis who fed Johnny Davis in the paint who dropped it off to Crowl at the rim.
The best was yet to come. Out of necessity. Johnny Davis fouled out with 2:35 remaining.
Jordan Davis replaced him and the brothers crossed paths.
"When he came out," Jordan related, "he said, 'Let's finish this out. C'mon. It's time to go.'"
Seconds later, Jordan perfectly executed a backdoor cut while Brad Davison was driving the ball off the left wing to the baseline. Davison fed Jordan for a layup and a 64-62 lead. The Badgers extended their advantage to 66-62 at 1:19 with Jordan assisting on a Crowl jump hook with the shot clock running down. The key was that neither Davis, nor Crowl panicked, while Davison was yelling out the time.
With nine seconds remaining, Davis and Davison forced Jamison Battle into a turnover.
It was the exclamation point on the night for Jordan Davis.
"With the game on the line, in the last two and one-half minutes, he was able to step in and play – he was in at winning time and making plays," said Gard who saw his team's record improve to 13-1 in games decided by six or fewer points and 11-2 away from the Kohl Center. "The biggest thing with Jordan is having confidence in himself … to have it happen during a game … he can build off that."
Nobody was prouder of Jordan than Johnny. And he said so afterwards, "It was really exciting … I knew that he was going to get the opportunity tonight and it was really good to see him get out there. Hopefully, it will give him some confidence moving forward. He's got it in him. He knew that when his time came, he was going to step up and produce. And he did."
Johnny Davis can cast a large shadow. He's a candidate for national Player of the Year. But when Jordan Davis was asked if it was hard being the "other Davis" in some people's minds, he answered unequivocally, "I think it's harder for Johnny because he has so much publicity and all eyes are always on him. I'm just proud of the way he has handled it this far. For me, I can't help but be proud.
"I'm not jealous or anything like that. I know my time is coming. I just have to keep working."
Meanwhile, Crowl is coming of age. He made 7-of-9 shots and had a Big Ten high 20 points. There's no more unforgiving conference in the country than this one for a center, particularly an inexperienced 5-man, when facing the likes of Zach Edey, Trevion Williams, Kofi Cockburn, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Hunter Dickinson. Crowl was able to exploit Minnesota's interior defense.
"He's a young player who's really going through a full season for the first time," Gard said of Crowl who played seven minutes in seven Big Ten games last season as a true freshman. "I've just watched the confidence grow with him. If you want to use one word for both of those guys – Jordan and Steven – it's confidence. To make it happen in a game will do more than any coach can do for them."
The Badgers won't have time to dwell on their 13th win in the last 15 games against Minnesota. It's another quick turnaround in the play-every-third-day cycle. Saturday, they will get their rematch with Rutgers, a 73-65 winner in Madison. It will be a more hostile environment in New Jersey than it was in Williams Arena where the cheering sections for Davison and Tyler Wahl alone numbered 350-plus.
The Scarlet Knights are still building an NCAA tournament resume.
Jordan Davis is just hoping to use the Gophers as a stepping stone to keep building his.
"Honestly," he said, "it helped boost my confidence seeing I can make an impact on this team.
