BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – While Purdue was methodically dismantling Ohio State in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament, Wisconsin was going through a shooting practice here Saturday. It was the first time the Badgers had been on the court since losing to the Buckeyes on Wednesday in Chicago.
After the light, 90-minute workout, the very last player to leave the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion was
Steven Crowl, who hung around to shoot free throws on his own. A year ago, Crowl shot 80 percent from the stripe (36-of-45). This season, he has been struggling to stay above 60 percent (44-of-73).
Standing off to the side, Wisconsin coach
Greg Gard stressed that Crowl was a good shooter, and it was just a matter of restoring his confidence – whether on free throws or 3-pointers. On the latter, Crowl had a split personality between his home (.417, 15-36) and road/neutral (.171, 7-41) stats.
Gard insisted there was nothing wrong with Crowl's mechanics from beyond the arc – where opponents had invited him to shoot – and he was hoping with a productive off-season, he could get up to 35 percentage or better. More than anything, he just needed to see some shots go through the net.
Crowl took that mindset into Tuesday night's NIT opener against Bradley at the Kohl Center. After hitting his first three attempts, all from the paint, staking the Badgers to an early 11-6 lead, Crowl stepped to the free throw line with 14:55 left in the half. Twice, he saw the ball go through the net.
"It was nice to see a couple go in, I've been struggling, so to see those fall was good," he said later. "The first thing is getting to the line. And once you see the first couple go down, you start to get into a rhythm, and then it moves beyond the 3-point line, and you start hitting everything. That's how it goes."
Crowl didn't actually hit everything Tuesday. But he nearly did in Wisconsin's 81-62 win over Bradley. In finishing with a career-high 36 points, Crowl converted on 12 of 16 field goals, including 5-of-7 on 3's and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. That's how it went. Couldn't have gone much better.
"I tell him all the time," Gard said afterwards. "I've seen all the bigs come through here in the last 20 years. I think he can be right there with those guys that are on the Mount Rushmore, so to speak, of stretch bigs that we've had here in the last two decades.
"Getting him to believe that has been the biggest thing.
"So, tonight is a big step in that. He played how I envisioned he could play."
In mid-November of 2013, Frank Kaminsky broke the UW's single-game scoring record with 43 points in a 103-85 victory against North Dakota at the Kohl Center. The 7-foot Kaminsky was 16-of-19 from the field, 6-of-6 from beyond the arc, and 5-of-6 from the stripe in 28 minutes of playing time.
"He's really come of age," said North Dakota head coach Brian Jones.
On Tuesday, Jones was on the Bradley bench. He's a first-year assistant on Brian Wardle's staff. So, he was privy, or maybe a better word is pained to see another Wisconsin big – the 7-foot Crowl – take some meaningful strides towards coming of age in this, his junior year, not unlike Frank the Tank.
"He has a chance to be a really, really good player here," Gard said of Crowl who bounced back nicely from the Ohio State loss in which he had just 8 points and 1 rebound. "He's got years left, that's the exciting part. He knows it, and he's really humble with his approach."
Gard is all for Crowl stretching a defense with his range. But …
"You can't live at the 3-point line," he said. "I don't want him floating out there all the time because the kid has got great footwork. He's really worked on his jump hooks and with a 7-footer who can pass like that and with the feel he has for the game, it's a heckuva weapon."
On banking one of his 3's, Crowl smirked and said, "That's when I knew I had to keep shooting them once that one went in … That's when I kind of knew it was a good night." His previous high in any one game was three triples (3-of-5) against Western Michigan this season and Penn State last season.
Gard was obviously delighted by Crowl's scoring outburst. But there were some other things about his overall game that stood out. Like his 9 rebounds. "He rebounded with two hands, we've been working on that," Gard said. Crowl was also in position to dunk the ball more than he had previously.
"That's the neat thing about this (NIT) tournament, even though obviously we understand where our goals were (to make the Big Dance)," Gard said. "It's another opportunity for us to get experience … play better, get better … that was a good example of that with him (Crowl)."
The Badgers return to action at the Kohl Center on Sunday against Liberty, a 62-57 winner over Villanova. The Flames are led in scoring by Darius McGhee, who had 26 points on the strength of five triples. For the season, the 5-9 McGhee has 158 3-pointers (.399). For comparison,
Connor Essegian leads the UW with 66 (.371).
McGhee has been the ASUN Player of the Year for three consecutive years. For his career, he has accounted for 2,654 points in 167 games – 524-of-1,360 (.385) from the 3-point line. Liberty is coached by Ritchie McKay, the associate head coach to Tony Bennett for six seasons at Virginia.
Gard was pleased with how his players responded to playing in the NIT. "To be in this position and to approach this in the right way and prepare the right way," he said, "you saw with how they played and came out tonight that they were in the right frame of mind. That's a credit to them ...
"I'm excited to be with them for another 40 minutes."
Asked about the incentive behind this win, Crowl said, "We were just grateful that we had an opportunity to keep playing. There are a lot of teams that wish they were playing right now. A lot of team's seasons are over. As we see … their season (Bradley) is over now ... We didn't want to be them.
"Just having a chance to play another game with these guys, we all bought in." And it paid off.  Â
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