Micah Potter – Page 10 – Syndication Server

3 Badgers who must step up with Kobe King and Brad Davison out

Wisconsin basketball

It’s a matter of simple math for Greg Gard and the Wisconsin Badgers: This Saturday against Michigan State, they need 200 total minutes from their roster. Every game requires 200 minutes, with five players on the court at all times. Those are the rules. I don’t make them.

Five players won’t play 40 minutes apiece. The bench has to fill in enough minutes. With Kobe King and Brad Davison both out of the picture for this crucial Michigan State home game at the Kohl Center, simple math demands that at least two, probably three, players will have to play a lot more minutes than they have in recent weeks.

First, let’s give you the minute totals for the Iowa game this past Monday night: D’Mitrik Trice played 37 minutes. Brevin Pritzl played 31, Nate Reuvers 29, Tyler Wahl 26, Aleem Ford 19, Micah Potter 15, and Trevor Anderson 10.

You’re adding those numbers and not getting 200 total minutes. Those seven numbers add up to 167. Correct. That’s why I left one other player out of that list so his impact can be more fully appreciated: Brad Davison played 33 minutes. These are the 33 minutes Gard must find from his roster against Michigan State, since Davison has been suspended for Saturday’s contest.

If Gard has to find 33 minutes, he can’t use Trice or Reuvers. They are already carrying a substantial workload. Wahl got the start at Iowa due to Kobe King’s absence, so he already shouldered more of a responsibility for the team. Maybe he can play four or five more minutes against Michigan State, but not 10 or 12. Wahl is not a 35-minutes-per-game player.

With Kobe King out, Gard’s rotation was shortened from nine to eight players against Iowa. King’s 28.5 minutes per game had to be redistributed to other players. Wahl picked up some of those minutes, and as we have already noted, he can’t really play more than a few extra minutes against Michigan State. Pritzl picked up a lot of them, so if he plays 31 more minutes against Michigan State, he will be doing close to the maximum in terms of playing time. Pritzl isn’t going to be the outlet through which Gard finds 33 extra minutes versus Tom Izzo’s team.

The players who will make up these 33 extra minutes are clear: Aleem Ford, Micah Potter, and Trevor Anderson. At 19, 15, and 10 minutes against Iowa, these three Badgers can reasonably be expected to get substantially more playing time versus the Spartans. The question is how Gard chooses to allocate their minutes, and in which lineups.

It would seem unavoidable that Anderson is the safest bet for a much larger role versus MSU, given that Davison and King are both guards. Anderson will need to take up the ball-handling chores to a degree. He, Wahl and Pritzl will share duties so that none of the three are individually overburdened.

The real intrigue here will involve how Gard juggles Ford’s and Potter’s minutes. Ford has been a regular member of the starting five but hasn’t always played extended minutes. He has played fewer than 20 minutes in three of his last five outings, averaging 17 minutes per game in those five contests. We have discussed Potter a lot this season. His flawed defense has kept him from getting more minutes, but he is the most efficient scorer on the team in terms of points per minutes played. A Wisconsin team without Davison, a relentless defender, can’t expect to win a 55-53 grinder. It will need Potter’s offense to win a game played in the high 60s or low 70s.

Maybe Gard will try to give Ford 13 more minutes (from 19 versus Iowa to 32 against Michigan State) and Anderson 20 more minutes (from 10 versus Iowa to 30 versus MSU), which would mean he could get his 33 extra minutes without increasing Potter’s minutes. That is mathematically possible, but it doesn’t strike me as realistic. Anderson going from a 10-minute workload to 30 in one giant leap seems improbable.

The points I have made about Potter this season now need to be applied versus Michigan State: Gard might not trust Potter with extended playing sequences, but he can play Potter for shorter bursts in more portions of games. Gard has to allow Potter to learn on the job this Saturday. Given that UW already faces an uphill battle, this seems like the ideal time to allow Potter to learn lessons. If UW loses, Potter could still walk away from this game against Michigan State with a much better idea of what he has to do in the rest of February and the season at large.

Greg Gard has to fill 33 minutes. Micah Potter, Aleem Ford, and Trevor Anderson should all expect to carry more of the load for the Badgers. Let’s see if this moment is a growth point for them. If so, this horrible week could still become a source of renewal in the long run.

Micah Potter vs Iowa embodies this season for Wisconsin

Micah Potter vs Iowa

Micah Potter isn’t the most important player on the 2019-2020 Wisconsin Badgers, but he is the player who most profoundly and aptly symbolizes what the Badgers have gone through.

Potter didn’t play in the first 10 games of the season, through no fault of his own — darn NCAA! — and his team could have used him. Small doses of minutes in his arrival to the lineup in late December seemed to snap the rotations into place. Potter gave Greg Gard and his own teammates more flexibility.

Yet, Potter didn’t play too many minutes because of his defensive limitations. Wisconsin has needed to win primarily with its defense, so Gard accordingly tried to restrict Potter’s minutes. The Badgers will generally win by containing damage rather than exploding past the opposition. To that extent, there was and is a clear logical coherence to the decision by Gard to limit Potter’s minutes.

However, Wisconsin’s offense dies much too often in games. Potter unquestionably makes the Badgers a much more potent team. On a broader level, Potter can’t improve his defense without getting more minutes and being exposed to more situations. This doesn’t mean he has to play 30 minutes, but the 15 minutes per game he averaged coming into the Iowa game put him eighth on the roster, behind Tyler Wahl and Aleem Ford.

Before this Iowa game began, though, something happened which magnified Potter’s importance to the Badgers: Kobe King would not play for personal (non-health-related) reasons. The rotation would be shortened by one player. This increased the odds that Potter would play more minutes.

As it turned out, Potter played 15 minutes against Iowa, right in line with his current average of 14.9 per game, but he played 15 minutes while getting into foul trouble and then suffering an ankle injury (severity unknown) with just under four minutes left in regulation.

Getting into foul trouble was to be expected, given his defensive deficiencies, but it has to be said that Wisconsin’s defense was generally very good in this game. Potter might not have been particularly impressive, but he didn’t bring the team down with him. Picking up fouls isn’t fun or positive in itself, but such an experience makes a player aware of how — and why — his defense has to improve. Potter learned, and Wisconsin’s defense didn’t suffer — not severely, at any rate. There were some encouraging developments to note in Potter’s play and the way he fits into this rotation with King out.

Yet, the ankle injury (even if not especially serious) left Potter and Wisconsin with a story which was ultimately anything but happy. That individual story mirrored the loss to Iowa: UW made great progress from the Purdue game, but the bottom line was a negative one, since this game needed to go in the win column and did not.

Potter’s game against Iowa was a microcosm of the whole season to this point: Potter, like the team, needed time to find itself. It improved in the middle stages, then weakened later on. Notable improvements were overshadowed at the end by larger and more negative realities.

The only good news is that the “end” refers not to the full season, only the portion of the season which has been played to date. The month of February awaits. Hopefully Potter, Greg Gard, and the whole team will be able to evolve in ways which don’t create moral victories, but actual ones.

Greg Gard must give Micah Potter MUCH more playing time

Game Day Grades: Wisconsin vs. Purdue

Handing out grades in Wisconsin’s 70-51 road loss to Purdue. D’Mitrik Trice G, Nate Reuvers F, Micah Potter F

Offense: F

Wisconsin to start the game was able to get the basketball down low and Nate Reuvers was able to have success against Purdue’s Trevion Williams as he was responsible for five of Wisconsin’s first seven points.

Although Wisconsin started off on offense well it all went downhill for the Badgers offensively.

Simply put Wisconsin couldn’t buy a basket at times as the Badgers put together one of its worst halves of basketball this season over the first 20 minutes of the game as the Badgers shot 6-for-20 (30 percent) from the field. Overall, Wisconsin finished the game shooting 20-for-46 (43.5 percent) from the field.

Wisconsin put three players in double figures as D’Mitrik Trice and Micah Potter each had 11 points as the two-shot a combined 9-for-13 from the field. Reuvers finished the game with 10 points but after starting 3-for-4 from the field he went 1-for-7 the rest of the game.

Wisconsin’s inability to shoot the basketball effectively hurt the Badgers but one other aspect that hurt the Badgers was their inability to grab an offensive rebound. Wisconsin finished the game with only two offensive rebounds as they only registered one in each half.

In fact their first offensive rebound of the game didn’t come until the 1:39 mark of the first half but the Badgers couldn’t even get a chance of putting up another shot as Reuvers turned the basketball over.

The Badgers finished the game with 11 turnovers, which Purdue turned into 15 points.

Defense: F

Wisconsin was able to shoot the basketball better in the second half finishing the game shooting 53.8 percent (14-for-26) from the field. The problem was the Badger defense allowed Purdue to shoot 55.2 percent (16-for-29) from the field in the second half.

Purdue was able to get balanced scoring across their entire team as nine different players scored for the Boilermakers and four of the nine players reached double figures.

In particular, the Badgers had no answer for Evan Boudreaux as he registered his first career double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Seven of his 13 rebounds came on the offensive glass as his ability to keep offensive possessions alive was critical as Purdue finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds, ironically, the same number of total rebounds the Badgers had in the game.

With Purdue generating so many second chances they were able to turn them into 19 points.

Isaiah Thompson led Purdue with 14 points off the bench on 6-for-8 shooting from the field. Sasha Stefanovic had 12 points as he hit three critical three’s for Purdue in the second half and Matt Haarms scored 11 points.

With so many different contributors for Purdue meant that the Boilermakers were able to have success around the rim and from three. Purdue finished the game with 28 points in the paint but entering the game against Wisconsin the Boilermakers were shooting 27.3 percent (45-for-165) from three over conference play, which ranked 13th.

However, the Badgers couldn’t hold them to their conference average as the Boilermakers finished the game 9-for-19 (47.4 percent) from three. Purdue’s ability to consistently hit the three against Wisconsin allowed for them to quickly extend their lead and maintain it.

Overall: F

Basketball is a game of runs. If Wisconsin wanted any chance of getting themselves back in the game the Badgers needed to have the first run in the second half.

They didn’t.

Purdue, started the second half scoring 12 of the first 14 points as they scored on five of its first seven possessions to extend their lead to 28 points.

In that sequence to begin the second half Stefanovic was responsible for six of Purdue’s 12 points as he knocked down two three’s while Easter had four points and Haarms knocked down a jumper.

The Badgers did go on a 7-0 run themselves but after a Purdue timeout at the 14:28 mark, the Boilermakers were able to retake control of the game and push their lead to as many as 27 points.

Wisconsin could never establish a consistent offensive rhythm and they didn’t help themselves by struggling so mightily on the boards as Purdue outrebounded the Badgers 42-16. That simply can’t happen in Big Ten play.

Wisconsin has another tough game on the road against Iowa on Monday and if they don’t shore up where they struggled against the Boilermakers the Badgers could see a similar result on Monday.

3-Point Shot Wisconsin vs. Purdue

What are three things Wisconsin needs to do when the Badgers travel to play Purdue in West Lafayette?

Purdue (10-9, 3-5 Big Ten) lost its second consecutive game in a row as they fell to Illinois at home, marking the second home loss by Purdue this season. That may not be good news for Wisconsin (12-7, 5-3) considering the Badgers have struggled to win in Mackey Arena. The Badgers have only won 18 games in West Lafayette in program history with their last win coming in 2014.

In this Badgers Wire feature, we will look at the three keys or questions for Wisconsin as they prepare to play Purdue on Friday.

LAYUP: CAN WISCONSIN BUILD OFF OF THEIR PERFORMANCE FROM THREE?

Wisconsin shot the basketball lights out from three against Nebraska as they finished the game 18-for-34 (52.9 percent) from three. The 18 made three’s set a new team record for most made three’s in a game breaking the previous mark of 17.

It is unfair to expect Wisconsin to shoot the basketball that well again from three especially on the road. But the Badgers will have to shoot it better than they were in the five previous games prior to Nebraska, the Badgers shot a combined 27-for-99 (27.2 percent) from three over that stretch.

During Big Ten play Wisconsin is shooting 34.7 percent (61-for-176) from three, which ranks fourth in the conference. On the flip side for Purdue defensively they are allowing their Big Ten opponents to shoot 31.1 percent (55-for-177) from three.

Purdue is allowing an average of 6.8 made three’s a game and if Wisconsin struggles to consistently generate a post touch against the Boilermakers then the Badgers will need to be ready to knock down there three’s in order to help open up the lane.

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Game Day Grades: Wisconsin vs. Nebraska

What grades did Wisconsin earn in their 82-68 home victory over Nebraska?

Offense: B

In Wisconsin’s loss to Michigan State, the Badgers shot 4-for-19 from three and entering the game against Nebraska the Badgers were shooting 32.5 percent (135-for-416) from three as a team.

Making it hard to imagine that Wisconsin would finish the game against Nebraska with a program record 18 made three’s on 34 attempts, which eclipsed the previous mark of 17 against Coppin State in 2010.

As eight different players for Wisconsin made at least one three and five of those eight players made at least two three’s. Simply put it was a shooting clinic from the perimeter as the Badgers did a terrific job of working the basketball around as the Badgers registered an impressive and Big Ten season high 23 assists on their 29 made field goals. Overall Wisconsin finished the game 29-for-63 (46 percent) from the field.

Brad Davison (4-for-9) and Brevin Pritzl (4-for-8) both made four of their 3-pointers as the two shot a combined 8-for-17 from three. Trice went 3-for-4 on his 3-point attempts, Aleem Ford and Micah Potter each made two of their three’s.

Potter finished the game with nine points while Ford finished the game with eight points as he went scoreless over Wisconsin’s last two games.

Although Wisconsin finished the game with 16 points in the paint they did feed the post in order to help create there open looks from three.

With nine different players scoring for Wisconsin it helped create a balance on offense throughout the game. The balance that Wisconsin had amongst its scorers was established early in the game as eight different players for Wisconsin combined to score the Badgers first 24 points to begin the game.

Despite Wisconsin getting into a groove offensively from three, the Badgers did commit 11 turnovers against Nebraska. The 11 turnovers by the Badgers broke a four game streak of nine or fewer turnovers. The Cornhuskers were able to find a way of cashing Wisconsin’s mistakes into points as they finished the game with 19 points off of the Badgers turnovers.

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3-Point Shot Wisconsin vs. Nebraska

What are three things Wisconsin needs to do against Nebraska?

Nebraska suffered an 8-point loss to Indiana at home on Saturday marking the third loss in a row by the Cornhuskers and their fourth loss over their last five games. Although Nebraska has had its struggles this year the Cornhuskers have yet to win a road game as they are 0-5 and have lost each road game by an average of 11.8 points per game.

In this Badgers Wire feature, we will look at the three keys or questions for Wisconsin as they prepare to play Nebraska on Tuesday.

LAYUP: THE PLAY OF WISCONSIN’S BENCH

Wisconsin didn’t receive much production from its bench in the loss to Michigan State. As the bench only contributed eight points their fewest since also scoring eight points against North Carolina State. In addition, they also combined for 11 rebounds, one assist to five turnovers, and two steals.

In order for Wisconsin to control the game throughout against Nebraska, the bench is going to need to be more consistent than what they were against the Spartans.

Micah Potter and Brevin Pritzl have been Wisconsin’s two most consistent scoring options off the bench. Pritzl has led Wisconsin’s bench in scoring in eight different games this year while Potter has led Wisconsin’s bench in scoring over the last four games.

Pritzl over Wisconsin’s last two non-conference games against Tennessee and Rider combined to score 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting from the field. But over the Badgers last five games, he has only scored a combined 24 points.

Pritzl has continued to hit the boards for Wisconsin though as his 60 rebounds lead the bench. Tyler Wahl isn’t far behind with 52 rebounds and between the two they have combined for 74 defensive rebounds.

The production Wisconsin receives from its bench and its ability to protect the basketball while its out there will give Wisconsin a good chance of making sure Wisconsin is able to stay in control of the game.

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Game Day Grades: Wisconsin vs. Michigan State

Grading Wisconsin’s 67-55 loss to Michigan State on the road.

Offense: D

Wisconsin used a strong start to the second half to chip away at a 15-point halftime deficit. As the Badgers were able to cut the lead to as little as six points at 39-33 with 15:41 to go in the game.

It appeared Wisconsin’s offense was starting to get into a rhythm in the second half as the Badgers were able to generate quality looks for themselves as Nate Reuvers made three consecutive three’s to cut into the Spartans lead.

Wisconsin needed to start the second half strong in order to give themselves a chance of winning. Considering in the first half the Badgers shot 29 percent (9-for-31) from the field.

Despite Wisconsin starting 5-for-6 from the field in the second half the way the Badgers shot the basketball in the first half, it was unlikely the Badgers were going to be able to maintain that kind of shooting. The Badgers closed the second half by shooting a combined 7-for-22 from the field only to see the Spartans re-extend their lead back to double-digits.

The length by Michigan State at times bothered Wisconsin as the Spartans were able to consistently contest Wisconsin’s shots around the rim as the Badgers finished the game with 22 points in the paint. Fourteen of those 22 points came in the first half though.

Wisconsin didn’t have much success from three either as Wisconsin finished the game 4-for-19 from three. The four made three’s tied for the fewest made over conference play since Wisconsin’s loss to Rutgers.

Only two players made a three for Wisconsin one was Reuvers as he made three of his 3-point attempts and the other was D’Mitrik Trice (nine points). Reuvers led Wisconsin in scoring with 19 points the only other player to reach double figures for Wisconsin was Kobe King with 10 points but he shot 4-for-11 from the field.

If it wasn’t poor shooting at times that hurt the Badgers offense it was finding ways of consistently generating second chances for themselves. Wisconsin generated seven offensive rebounds in the first half but over the last 20 minutes, they only had two. Wisconsin’s inability to find a way to keep offensive possessions alive for themselves only hurt their chances of keeping themselves in the game.

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Three takeaways from Wisconsin’s 67-55 loss to Michigan State

Wisconsin got dropped by Michigan State on Friday, falling 67-55. Here are our top three takeaways from the game for the Badgers.

Wisconsin got blown out of the gym against Michigan State on Friday night in East Lansing, falling to the Spartans in a 67-55 decision that is not indicative of just how soundly Bucky got beaten. Here are our top three takeaways from the game for the Badgers.

Wisconsin’s good fortune on the road runs out

Jan 17, 2020; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Brad Davison (34) has the ball stripped by Michigan State Spartans forward Xavier Tillman (23) and Michigan State Spartans forward Marcus Bingham Jr. (30) during the second half of a game at the Breslin Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Road wins have been few and far between so far in Big Ten play, and Wisconsin was able to pick up two big ones against Ohio State and Penn State. In those contests, the Badgers were able to overcome the type of poor offensive outings we have grown to expect from them away from the Kohl Center this season by playing lights-out defense.

That didn’t happen tonight against the Spartans in the Breslin Center, a venue in which Wisconsin has struggled mightily in recent years.

Offensively, this was right up there with Bucky’s worst performances of the season to this point. Michigan State’s impressive length and athleticism caused the Badgers fits all night long, and the visitors ultimately shot just 21.1 percent from beyond the arc and 35.6 from the floor overall. Even those meager totals are a bit deceiving, as Wisconsin was able to get it going a bit in garbage time.

On the other end of the court, the Badgers’ defense was ok, but by no means was it enough to overcome such a poor shooting night against the team that is the class of the Big Ten right now on its home floor. The Spartans, who shot 46.6 percent overall and 37.5 percent from long-range, were hitting some pretty tough shots, but they certainly were able to manufacture plenty of easy ones as well.

In explaining Michigan State’s all-around dominance over Wisconsin in this one, Jim Jackson astutely observed near the end of the broadcast that it felt like the Spartans had an extra man on the court on both ends. I couldn’t agree more, as it was abundantly clear throughout the game that there are major disparities between these two squads in terms of athleticism, length/size, and just overall talent.

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Game Day Grades: Wisconsin vs. Maryland

What grades did Wisconsin earn in their Big Ten conference home victory over Maryland on Tuesday night?

Offense: C+

Wisconsin finished the game 7-for-21 (33.3 percent) from three. The Badgers, in particular, struggled with their perimeter shots throughout the second half as they only made three of their 11 attempts.

Despite the struggles, Wisconsin made the one that they needed to count the most, which was Brad Davison’s game winning three with 11 seconds to go in the game. Davison was able to catch the basketball off of an in-bounds play open in the corner thanks to a Nate Reuvers screen.

Before Davison’s made three to give Wisconsin the lead for good he had missed his two previous 3-point attempts in the second half. But Wisconsin was able to draw up a good play for Davison out of the timeout following his critical steal, which helped set up Davison’s game winning play.

Davison finished the game 5-for-9 from the field and 2-for-5 from three as he was one of three Badgers to reach double figures. Nate Reuvers led the way with 17 points and Micah Potter also scored 14 points. Overall, Wisconsin shot 22-for-49 (44.9 percent) from the field.

For the second consecutive game, D’Mitrik Trice failed to score as he missed all five of his shots. Despite Trice’s shooting struggles continuing he did do well of setting his teammates up for success on the offensive end.

As Trice was responsible for four of Wisconsin’s 11 assists on the night to one turnover. Wisconsin didn’t beat themselves on the offensive end as they did well of taking care of the basketball as they only turned the basketball over seven times, marking the Badgers third straight game of committing nine or fewer turnovers.

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