In Wisconsin’s win over Nebraska on Saturday Aleem Ford only scored three points on 1-for-5 shooting from the field, which snapped a three game streak of him reaching double figures.
In the three previous games since Kobe King’s departure, Ford was averaging 11.3 points a contest on a combined 12-for-23 shooting from the field.
Ford in Wisconsin’s win against Nebraska didn’t show the same kind of hunter mentality like he did previously. In order for Wisconsin’s offense to have success over the Badgers remaining six regular season games and the Big Ten tournament, the Badgers will need Ford to be able to attack the basket to help generate high percentage shots.
With Wisconsin’s offensive success against Nebraska coming from three against the Cornhuskers the Badgers didn’t need for Ford to attack as three of his five field goal attempts came from 3-point range.
Although Ford didn’t have the same kind of success scoring against Nebraska he did use that attacking mentality that Badger fans have seen over Wisconsin’s last four games on the glass.
Ford who was a rebound shy of registering his first career double-double against Ohio State was active once again on the glass. Ford finished with a season and career-high 10 rebounds against Nebraska. It was also Ford’s second straight game where he led the Badgers in rebounds and his third overall this season.
If Ford can consistently string together strong rebounding games he will help take the pressure off of Nate Reuvers who leads the team in rebounds (119). Ford on the season is only averaging four rebounds a game and his 100 rebounds rank fourth on the team.
In particular, if Ford’s aggressive style of play continues over the remainder of Wisconsin’s season even if his shot isn’t falling he can still make a positive impact by cleaning up his miss or one of his teammates by collecting an offensive rebound.
Wisconsin is only averaging 8.1 offensive rebounds over conference play, which ranks 13th in the league. Simply put with games starting to have more significance as the Badgers try to improve where they are in the Big Ten standings and to continue to solidify their seed in the NCAA tournament the Badgers can’t waste their opportunities if they want to set themselves up for possible postseason success.
The play of Ford down the stretch could prove to be an important factor in how far Wisconsin goes in March.