Offense: B
Wisconsin finished the game against Minnesota with nine offensive rebounds as the biggest one came thanks to D’Mitrik Trice with 59 seconds left in the game and Wisconsin down by two points.
After a missed three by Brad Davison in front of Wisconsin’s bench, Aleem Ford was able to tip the basketball out as Trice was able to corral the basketball at midcourt and after a couple of dribbles found Brevin Pritzl in the corner for three to give the Badgers a 67-66 lead.
Minnesota was able to regain the lead back thanks to a Daniel Oturu made jumper but following a timeout by Greg Gard the Badgers were able to regain the lead for good. Out of the timeout, Trice was able to force Minnesota’s defense to collapse on him by driving into the paint before finding a wide open Aleem Ford as Ford finished the play off with a dunk.
Pritzl also added two more free throws down the stretch to extend Wisconsin’s lead to 71-68. Micah Potter could have put the game away officially but he missed both of his free throws. Overall Wisconsin shot 17-for-24 (70.8 percent) from the free throw line.
The way Wisconsin shot the basketball from 3-point range over the month of February didn’t quite carry over into the first day of March as Wisconsin finished the game 8-for-24 (33.3 percent). But after only making three of their attempts in the first half they went 5-for-10 in the second half.
With the lead going back and forth over the final five minutes of the game the Badgers did go 3-for-4 from 3-point range. Trice made one of the three’s to give Wisconsin a 59-58 lead and Pritzl was responsible for the last two makes. Pritzl’s first made three with 3:31 to go gave Wisconsin a 62-60 lead and his second one gave the Badgers a lead at 67-66 with less than a minute to go.
Davison was one of four players for Wisconsin to reach double figures with 20 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field. Pritzl was second with 15 points, and Aleem Ford and Micah Potter each finished the game with 10 points on a combined 7-for-16 shooting from the field.
Overall Wisconsin shot 23-for-58 (39.7 percent) from the field.