Wisconsin shook its slump on the road and was able to shoot the ball well against Nebraska once again. The score was 39-38 Wisconsin at halftime, exactly as it was back on January 21, but another big second half allowed the Badgers to pull away for another double-digit victory over Nebraska.
The win is the first road win for UW since January 11 when it beat Penn State in Happy Valley. Six days after sweeping Ohio State this past Sunday, the Badgers took a second season series, but this time over Nebraska. What did we learn from the win ?
1. Guard tandem of Trice and Davison, have a day!
D’Mitrik Trice and Brad Davison are two of the most experienced players on the 2019-2020 Wisconsin squad, and they both showed up in a big way against Nebraska.
Davison shot himself out of a slump Saturday afternoon and put up one of the best shooting performances not only of his career, but in school history. Coming into the matchup with the Cornhuskers, the junior had put up a combined 30 points in his last five games, but he shook it off with a 30-point outing. The 30 points matched a career high he set way back in his freshman year against Michigan State, when he tried to single-handedly will the Badgers to an upset of the (then-) second-ranked Spartans.
Against Nebraska on Saturday, Davison had the hot had from long distance. He finished the game with eight threes, which ties a school record set by Bronson Koenig in the 2017 NCAA Tournament against Virginia Tech. Koenig needed six more shots to hit the same mark.
Davison’s display ended a rough stretch of games. He had hit a combined eight threes in his last seven games. The junior seems to like playing Nebraska. This now makes five games in double digits against the Cornhuskers in six meetings. The last time he hit double figures this season came on January 21 against Nebraska.
For junior D’Mitrik Trice, the matchup with Nebraska continued a brilliant stretch for the point guard. Over the last four games before the reunion with Nebraska, the guard was averaging 12.0 points, 6.3 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game. He has also scored nine or more points in six of the last seven games. Along with the uptick in scoring, he has also had at least four assists in each contest of the last seven contests.
Much like his partner in the backcourt, Trice found his stroke beyond the arc. Trice finished 5-6 from three, which ties his season high of five threes, which he set back on December 21 against UW-Milwaukee.
2. Badgers finally shoot well on the road
It has been a trend throughout the Big Ten for teams to struggle on the road, so Wisconsin’s road struggles are not anything out of the ordinary, but the Badgers shoot extremely poorly away from the Kohl Center.
The splits for UW are eye opening. The field goal percentage drops from 46% to 38% on the road, while the percentage from deep falls from 40% to 26.6%. Wisconsin took a huge first step in fixing the issue Saturday afternoon.
Trice and Davison created an efficient 48% clip from three for the Badgers, while the team shot 49% from the field. Within the context of this season, the 15 made threes this afternoon are second only to the school-record 18 threes they connected on in their last meeting with Nebraska.
UW may have finally figured out how to carry over its shooting on the road, but it may have come too late with four of the last six games for the Badgers in the Kohl Center. Yet, that certainly is not a bad thing with Wisconsin holding an 11-1 record at home.
3. Nate Reuvers and Micah Potter provide balance for the Badgers
Earlier in the year when Potter had a hot start to his Badger career, fans were clamoring for him to get more time and for him to play alongside Reuvers. We are starting to see how great the tandem of Reuvers and Potter can be. The duo combined for 28 points on 12-18 shooting against Nebraska.
Earlier in the season, Potter struggled to stay on the court late in games due to his inability to pick up defensive concepts, but he now has the trust of the coaching staff as shown by his start against Ohio State on Feb. 9.
Against Nebraska, the two bigs complemented one another beautifully. Both are the same mold of a stretch five: bigs who are comfortable posting up but can often hit jumpers.
When Reuvers picked up two early fouls, Potter stepped in seamlessly and poured in 11 points and four rebounds in the first half. Reuvers then stepped in to start the second half and score six points in the first 3:34.
Potter started against Ohio State to match up with the Buckeyes’ bigs, but Brevin Pritzl stepped in against Nebraska to combat the Huskers’ smaller lineup. Nonetheless, Potter has taken steps with the Badgers and has become a key contributor. He has formed a strong connection with point guard D’Mitrik Trice on the court, as he continues to be the beneficiary of dimes from Trice.
The matchup with Nebraska showed just how much of an advantage the Badgers have with their bigs, and how much of a problem they can present to opponents.