Defense: D
Wisconsin struggled to slow down Blake Francis in the first half but they also didn’t have a defensive answer for Golden. The two played off of each other well throughout the game.
Francis finished the game with a team-high 19 points as 16 of those points came in the first half. Not to mention he was responsible for 11 of Richmond’s final 13 points to end the first half.
Although Wisconsin was able to hold Francis to shoot 1-for-7 from the field he was able to register four of his six assists over the final 20 minutes.
One of the players to be a recipient of Francis assists was Golden as he played an efficient game for Richmond as he scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half to go along with pulling down 12 rebounds.
Defensively, Wisconsin had to make sure they didn’t allow for Richmond to generate open looks from three considering entering the game they were shooting 46.1 percent (53-for-115). The Badgers were able to hold them below their season average as the Spiders finished the game shooting 6-for-17 (35.3 percent) from three.
With Wisconsin doing well of taking away one of Richmond’s strengths on offense it did allow for Francis to attack Wisconsin and help set up opportunities in the paint. Richmond was able to take advantage as they finished the game with 28 points in the paint as overall the Spiders shot 26-for-56 (46.4 percent) from the field.
Wisconsin was able to force Richmond into 10 turnovers but with how poor Wisconsin’s offense played the Badgers failed to capitalize on Richmond’s mistakes as they only turned the Spiders miscues into five points.