Wisconsin just won their sixth in a row and found a way to win without their best shooting performance.
Wisconsin found a way to win again and have now made it six in a row and are back in a tie for second in the extremely tight Big Ten. The win finally welcomes the Badgers to the rankings and has them sitting at No. 24 with the month of March underway. What did we learn from the win as UW keeps on rolling?
1. “Gritty, not pretty,” an appropriate motto for this team
“I think you can kind of fall in love with the three point shot at times. When you have games where they aren’t going in as well at the rate they have been, our motto is ‘gritty, not pretty,’ Brevin loves that motto but you know what, sometimes you have to find ways to win, especially in March,” Brad Davison said after the game.
Coming into the night, the Badgers had hit 11+ threes in their last five games which had never been done before in program history. Wisconsin would not have as much success from beyond the arc even though they had been hoisting up as many threes.
At the half, UW stood a frosty 3-14 from deep, but the Badgers ultimately found a way to win and string together their sixth straight win. Two of the biggest plays of the night came on gritty, hustle plays.
The first play of the sequence to win the game came on a scramble for a loose ball where Brad Davison and D’Mitrik Trice each hustled for a loose ball that ultimately ended in an open corner three for Brevin Pritzl who connected on the deep ball.
Two plays later after the two squads went back and forth on a one point lead, Nate Reuvers made the defensive play of the night to secure the win. In an isolation that left Reuvers on Oturu, the junior forward stood strong and blocked Oturu’s shot.
The block ended up in Pritzl’s hands who sealed the win with a pair of free throws.
On a night where the team did not have the hot shooting that they had used to fuel the five game run, they still managed to come away with the win. The win continues to show just how resilient this team is.
2. Revenge tour continues
As the season reaches its end, Wisconsin has continued to play teams for a second time around and they are making up for earlier missteps.
The win over the Golden Gophers now makes them 4-0 in games against teams that they lost to earlier in the season. They have managed to do so earlier in the year against Michigan State, Purdue and Rutgers. All three wins followed up games where Wisconsin was handled pretty easily. The win over Minnesota followed the same script.
The trip to Minneapolis ended in a 70-51 drumming to the Gophers. Wisconsin returned the favor Sunday evening with the tight win over their rival. The 4-0 mark shows just how much better the team has gotten over the year. After opening the year 5-5 in the absence of Micah Potter, UW has put up a stellar 14-5 record since then.
The season finale against the Hoosiers marks the last time the Badgers match up with a team a second time but they will be looking to secure the sweep in that contest.
3. Double bye becoming more and more likely
It has been well documented just how tight the Big Ten is, but after the win over Minnesota, Wisconsin is one huge step closer to securing a double bye in the Big Ten tournament next week. The double bye would start the Badgers off in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
After the win over Minnesota, Wisconsin is once again tied for second with Michigan State and Illinois and one game behind the Terrapins for first in the Big ten. With just two games left for teams across the Big Ten, there is still a real possibility for a six way tie for first place, though Wisconsin has the friendliest path of teams that they are chasing.
Wisconsin:
VS Northwestern 3/4 @8PM
@ Indiana 3/7 @11 AM
No. 16 Michigan State:
@ No.20 Penn State 3/3 @6PM
VS No. 18 Ohio State3/8 @3:30
No. 23 Illinois:
@ No.19 Ohio State 3/5 @6PM
VS No. 18Iowa 3/8 @PM
No. 9 Maryland:
@ Rutgers 3/3 @6PM
VS No.25 Michigan 3/8 @11AM
In their final two games, the Badgers have games against two of the bottom four teams in the conference while two of the three teams they are trailing have two matchups against ranked opponents. Maryland is the only team with only one ranked opponent left on the slate, against the Michigan Wolverines, but the Wolverines were winners of seven in a row before falling to the Badgers. UW will have to keep up their winning ways but a finish in the top four continues to look more and more likely.
