The Badgers are hitting their stride at the right time. With five games to go, UW has now won three in a row and four their last five. Three of the last five for Wisconsin come at home, where they are a stour 12-1.
The win over Purdue avenges a 70-51 loss from four weeks ago when they were beat 42-16 on the glass. Wisconsin now finds itself a tie for third in the Big Ten with four other teams and have a manageable schedule the rest of the way. What did we learn from the win over Purdue ?
1. Aleem Ford is playing the best basketball of his career
“Confidence can be portrayed in a lot of ways,” head coach Greg Gard said about Ford. “I thought even though he didn’t score as much at Nebraska, he was aggressive, he was confident.”
In Lincoln, Ford set a career high in rebounds with ten, but only contributed three points. The effort against Nebraska topped a career high of nine rebounds that he had set the game before against the Buckeyes in Madison. Though he couldn’t contribute much offensively against Nebraska, Ford was able to find his rhythm and aggressiveness early and often against the Boilermakers.
He maintained his energy from the past two games having brought down seven rebounds, three of which were offensive rebounds against Purdue. The stretch of three straight games with seven or more rebounds is the first time in his career that he’s been able to do that.
The confidence and energy carried over to the offensive end Tuesday night. At no other time was this more evident than with 10:21 to go in the game when Ford caught the ball on the left wing and used a jab stab to open up some space for his fifth three that earned him a career high of 19 points. Ford isn’t usually someone who looks to create his own offense but the move and shot showcased the kind of roll he was on Tuesday night.
When asked what they could’ve done to limit Ford, Purdue head coach Matt Painter responded by simply saying: “not let him shoot.”
“Give him credit, he was the difference in the game, in my opinion,” Painter said. “We definitely respect him, it’s not like we went into the game saying ‘let Aleem Ford shoot.’ He’s proven that he can knock down shots.”
Over the last three games, Ford is averaging 10.7 points per game to go along with 8.7 rebounds per game and the junior has hit double figures in four of the last five games.
2. Free throws have quickly gone from a liability to a strength
After managing to stop Purdue when up 61-59, it would come down to Wisconsin’s ability to ice the game at the free throw line. With a lineup on the floor that consisted of Brad Davison, D’Mitrik Trice, Nate Reuvers, Brevin Pritzl, and Aleem Ford, the Badgers were primed to do just that.
With a little over thirty seconds to play, there was a ton of time left for Purdue to pounce on the potential of Wisconsin splitting a pair of free throws or missing both outright but Pritzl and Davison closed out the contest.
“When you step up for free throws, you have to step up with confidence, you can’t be doubting yourself,” senior Brevin Pritzl said after the game. “Coach Gard puts enough confidence in us, telling us that we are going to go knock it down, telling us to go get the ball.”
Three quick buckets from Purdue and subsequent fouls forced four trips to the line that Davison and Pritzl each alternated calmly stepping up.
“They did a heck of a job. I don’t know if any of them hit the rim,” Gard said.
Davison and Pritzl each had two trips to the line and they both sunk their four free throws. The perfect eight for eight shooting capped off a night where the Badgers would finish 19-20 from the charity stripe.
Just a year after Wisconsin sat second to last in the conference in free throw percentage, at 65%, the Badgers now lead the Big Ten with a mark of 76%.
3. This team is sticking together and finding its groove at the right time
With just five games remaining in the regular season, the Badgers have won four of their last five and have won their last three games. Currently tied for third place in the Big Ten with four other teams, UW couldn’t have picked a better time to get hot.
“I feel like it’s the perfect time for us to be playing confidently,” Aleem Ford said.
The Badgers will look to carry this late season surge of momentum into the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis and the NCAA tournament.
Lucky for the Badgers, three of their final five games are at home with their two games away from Madison coming against Indiana and Michigan. Wisconsin will look to continue their dominance in the Kohl Center where they are now 12-1. The one loss at home came to Illinois by just one point.
The recent stretch has come in the middle of some turbulent times at Wisconsin with the departure of Kobe King, the suspension of Brad Davison and the resignation of strength coach Erik Helland who had been with the team for seven years.
“At the end of the day, you can only control what’s in the room,” senior guard Brevin Pritzl said. “You can’t control what’s on the outside. You have to stick together with your group.”
“I think we’ve continually gotten better and I think we’re playing together. I talked about that before, just the unification and togetherness of this group. We always talk about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts,” Gard added. “They don’t care who does it, they’re very unselfish from that standpoint. As long as our team has success.”
Over this recent stretch, different players have stepped up for the Badgers. Whether it was Pritzl pouring in 19 points against Ohio State, Davison scoring 30 against Nebraska or Ford scoring a career high 19 against the Boilermakers, the team has found different ways to get it done.
The Badgers are finding their groove at the right time with the Big Ten race heating up. In the midst of a difficult season, UW is squarely in the race for a double bye in the Big Ten tournament.
