BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — In compiling a scouting report on Maryland for Saturday's rematch, Wisconsin assistant coach Lamont Paris went back to the starting point. The tape doesn't lie.
"The first thing I watched was the first game just to see what they did that was effective and why it was effective," he said of a 63-60 loss to the Terrapins on Jan. 9 at the Kohl Center.
"Is there something that we would consider potentially doing differently? You bring that stuff to Greg (Gard, the UW head coach) and talk about it."
Regarding any possible tweaks to the offense or defense, Paris posed obvious questions, "Is that something we can do? Is that something that we can prepare for in two days?
"We might say, 'Wow. Good idea. We should do that.' But we can't do it in two days. We can't get good enough to where we won't get exposed with it or reap the benefits of it in two days.
"Time is definitely a factor."
UW assistant Howard Moore handled the scout for Wednesday's game against Nebraska, a 72-61 win. That allowed Paris to get a jump on his prep for Maryland a little bit earlier in the week.
"With a league opponent, someone you've played already this year, the first time prep is generally longer than the second," Paris pointed out. "As you're watching games, you can recognize what they're doing immediately and you're thinking, 'This is the same. That is the same.'
"I also log how many times they ran a specific play against us."
The more they ran some type of action, the more Paris might conclude, "Obviously, they thought that was something they could expose by running that play. Or maybe they liked it for whatever reasons with the matchups.
"As far as personnel, too, is someone playing more? Is someone playing better? Is someone shooting more from the perimeter? We've got guys who are doing that, we've got guys who are playing better and a little different, especially if you look at that stretch (Wisconsin's six-game winning streak).
"So you watch the games they've played since we played them and see if there's any tendencies."
One thing won't change with the Terps: Melo Trimble is going to have the ball in late game situations — just like he did in Madison when he drained a 3-pointer over Zak Showalter for the win.
"I watched that play over and over again in slow motion," Paris said. "Showy played it about as well as you can play a guy one-on-one. He read it as early as humanly possible.
"Most times, guys will jockey you and get you on your heels as a defender for a pull-up like Bronson (Koenig, who tied the game at 60-all with a step-back triple over Jake Layman).
"By the time you get your hand up there, they already have the ball in the shooting pocket and they see the rim the way they need to see the rim. The shot is going to be determined by that, and not a hand up. Showy gets his hand up in good time. He guarded it about as well as you can guard it. The guy just shot it from deep, deep."
After the game, Maryland coach Mark Turgeon explained his thinking on the last possession.
"It's not a lot of coaching," he admitted. "I knew I wasn't going to call a timeout. My mentors (Larry Brown and Roy Williams) taught me not to do that. We just got out of his way. He (Trimble) is special. He does those kinds of things."
Trimble had a game-high 21 points (9-of-17) and five assists. Robert Carter had a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds) and four blocked shots. Freshman Diamond Stone had 11 points.
Those were the only players in double-figures for Maryland.
Layman, a senior forward, was held to four points (2-of-3). So was Duke transfer Rasheed Sulaimon (2-of-5). That was well under their averages of 10 and 11 points, respectively.
Wisconsin also had three players in double-figures: Nigel Hayes had 17 points (6-of-15); Ethan Happ had 16 points (8-of-14) and 11 rebounds; and Koenig had 13 points (4-of-12).
Statistically, the game was as even as the final score reflected. That included points in the paint (28-28), second-chance points (5-5) and fast-break points (4-4).
The Badgers had the edge in points off turnovers (18-11). But the Terps countered with points off the bench (11-5), namely Stone. UW freshman Alex Illikainen had five points and five rebounds.
"Ball screen defense is something that we've spent a lot of time on (this week) along with making a decision on whether we will tweak it at all," Paris said. "There were personnel matchups as the game unfolds where certain guys did better on other guys, so we may go into those earlier to get more minutes out of a specific matchup in Round 2.
"If there was a specific play that they guarded one way, I might say something to Greg, 'This is what they did. Do we want to put a wrinkle in that play to take advantage of that?'"
Paris, Moore and UW assistant Gary Close are all involved in this give-and-take with Gard.
"They will be doing the same things," Paris said.
Although the Maryland defeat was the second in a string of three straight culminating with a loss at Northwestern, their last loss before the winning streak, the Badgers competed against the Terps.
That was something that definitely emerged from Paris' film study.
"We handled situations," he said. "We didn't let their runs turn into much at all. They had one late and then we bounced right back with a run to tie it up. I thought that was a big part of the game."
At the midway point of the second half, the Badgers took a 47-46 lead on a Koenig 3-pointer. It was only their second lead of the half and game (they also led 40-39).
That was followed by Maryland's 14-5 run.
Trailing 60-52 with 1:27 remaining, the Badgers got a layup and a triple from Showalter and another triple from Koenig during an 8-0 run that tied up the game and set up Trimble's heroics.
"I'm proud of how they battled, how they worked, how they bought in," Gard said of his players. "They continued to strive and push and get better.
"At the same time, there's no such thing as a moral victory."
That mindset has been adopted by his players, whose physicality earned Turgeon's respect.
"It was the most physical game by far that we've played all year," he said of the previous meeting at the Kohl Center. "Not even close, and it took us a really long time to adjust to it
How have the Terps and their best players progressed since then?
Trimble has been in double-figures in six of the last nine games with 20 or more points three times, including 24 at Michigan State and 20 points in back-to-back games against Nebraska and Purdue.
In Maryland's loss at Michigan, he had only two points (1-of-7). He was not much better from the field against the Boilermakers (2-of-12) but he had seven assists and was 10-of-11 from the line.
The Terps are 19-1 when Trimble shoots at least seven free throws.
Since last facing the Badgers, Trimble turned 21. And he received a birthday text from one of his role models, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr.
After beating Wisconsin with his 3-point dagger, another NFL receiver, Victor Cruz, reached out to Trimble, whose hair style has been directly influenced by Beckham.
Also since that first game against the Badgers …
• Stone, who's starting again, has been in double-figures seven times with double-doubles against Michigan (22 points, 11 rebounds) and Nebraska (16, 10). He also had eight blocks vs. the Huskers.
• Carter has been in double-figures seven times with a double-double against Northwestern (10, 14) and 25 points against Ohio State with four triples. He had four against Purdue, too.
• Sulaimon has been in double-figures five times with 22 points against Ohio State and 21 points and 10 rebounds against Purdue. Over the last two games, he has made 14-of-22 shots.
• Layman has been in double-figures four times with a double-double (16, 10) against Ohio State. He didn't make a basket (0-3) in the Purdue win. And he's 2 of his last 12 from beyond the arc.
By the way, Maryland and Southern Cal are the only two schools in the country to have all five starters register at least one double-double this season. They have a total of 11.
On Tuesday night, the Terps stepped outside of Big Ten play and routed Bowie State, a Division II program. Michael Cekovsky had a career-high 14 points in 18 minutes.
Last February, the 7-foot-1 Cekovsky helped spark Maryland to a 59-53 win over the Badgers at XFINITY Center with four points and six rebounds. Dez Wells led both teams with 26 points.
Over the last two seasons, the Terps have had most of the answers in two-possession games. They have won 19 of their last 21 decided by six points or less.
"I think our guys are excited about this game for a lot of reasons," Paris said. "And it's not only because they're ranked (No. 2) in the country or because of the potential postseason ramifications.
"It's because they felt like they left something hanging out there in the first game — we made some mistakes and didn't finish around the rim — and they want another chance to play them."
