Tyler Wahl – Page 14 – Syndication Server

Game Day Grades: Wisconsin vs. Indiana

What grades did Wisconsin earn in their 84-64 victory to open conference play against Indiana?

Offense: A

Where was this shooting for over Wisconsin over their last three games? The Badgers shot a combined 56-for-159 (35.2 percent) from the field over their last three games but against Indiana, the Badgers shot an impressive 53.6 percent on 30-for-56 shooting from the field.

Wisconsin was able to go into halftime up 47-27 thanks to shooting a season high 62.5 percent (20-for-32) from the field in the first half. Wisconsin was able to carry that strong shooting performance from the first half into the final 20 minutes in order to snap the Badgers three game losing streak.

In particular, Kobe King and Nate Reuvers both had excellent games on the offensive end. King finished with a career-high 24 points and Reuvers finished the game second in points with 20. Between the two King and Reuvers shot a combined 18-for-27 from the field.

Aleem Ford also had a productive game on the offensive end as he scored 13 points. Most importantly he was able to knock down his 3-point attempts as five of his six shot attempts came from 3-point range with him making three of them. Overall Wisconsin shot 8-for-20 (40 percent) from three.

With Wisconsin having success from three it helped open up lanes for King and Reuvers to attack the paint as the Badgers finished with 32 points in the paint. Wisconsin also finished the game with eight offensive rebounds, which they turned into 11 points.

Defense: A

Indiana entered the game against Wisconsin shooting 51.7 percent (233-for-450) from the field as their worst shooting performance came against South Dakota State when they shot 41.4 percent (24-for-58).

Wisconsin’s defense was able to hold Indiana to shoot 42 percent (21-for-50) from the field and shot 35.7 percent (5-for-14) from three.

Aljami Durham lead Indiana with 17 points as he went 3-for-7 from the field as all of his made shots came from three. Justin Smith and Devonte Green were both held to 10 points.

Green who leads Indiana in scoring this year has been able to generate his offensive success from three as a majority of his shot attempts have come from there but Green only attempted two 3-point attempts. As he finished the game 3-for-8 from the field.

In particular, Wisconsin’s defense was able to disrupt Indiana’s offense as they forced the Hoosiers into 12 turnovers, which the Badgers turned into 18 points. Five of the 12 turnovers the Badgers created came off of steals as three different players for the Badgers registered a steal. Reuvers and Tyler Wahl each had two and Brad Davison had one steal.

Indiana did have success down low as the Hoosiers finished the game with 30 points in the paint and registered 10 offensive rebounds, which they turned into 12 points. Wisconsin was able to win the rebounding battle 29-28 over Indiana.

Overall: A

Wisconsin has now won 17 straight games over Indiana in Madison as the Badgers had the type of performance the Badgers needed to snap their three game losing streak.

Wisconsin was able to finally get on track offensively as the 53.6 percent the Badgers shot against the Hoosiers was a season best. The Badgers consistently were able to work the basketball around as they registered 13 assists on their 30 made field goals.

In addition, they did an excellent job of taking care of the basketball making sure turnovers weren’t going to disrupt the rhythm the Badgers established on offense as they committed a season low four turnovers.

Wisconsin utilized the first five minutes of the game to establish a double-digit lead, which they never relinquished. In that stretch, Wisconsin shot 6-for-10 from the field as the Badgers were able to build a 15-to-4 lead. Three different Badgers were responsible for the 15 points as Reuvers was responsible for seven points, King had five points, and Ford had three points.

Wisconsin also received production from its bench as the Badgers bench contributed 17 points. Brevin Pritzl lead the way with nine points, Wahl contributed six points on 2-for-3 shooting, and Michael Ballard scored two points off of free throws in the final minute of the game. In addition, the bench was responsible for five of Wisconsin’s 13 assists.

Game MVP: Kobe King

King was hunting for his shot early and often against Indiana as he finished with a career-high 24 points on an impressive 10-for-15 shooting from the field. Not to mention King scored 17 of his points in the first half on 8-for-10 shooting. With King finding ways of attacking the paint he was also able to get to the free throw line four times with him making three of his attempts. King also finished the game with four rebounds, one assist, and one block.

Game Day Grades: Wisconsin vs. Richmond

Handing out grades from Wisconsin’s 62-52 loss to Richmond in Brooklyn.

Offense: F

Wisconsin was able to take its second lead of the game at 47-45 with 9:56 to go in the game. But how Wisconsin ended the game shooting the basketball against Richmond is a summary of how poorly Wisconsin shot from the field throughout the game.

Wisconsin closed the game by shooting 1-for-10 from the field while committing four turnovers. If you break it down a little farther the Badgers only made two field goals on 12 shot attempts over the final 11:15 of the game.

Nate Reuvers made three with 11:15 tied the game at 45 and his two made free throws gave Wisconsin a 47-45 lead. But the Badgers didn’t make their next field goal until the 4:44 mark as Brad Davison’s three tied the game at 50.

Despite how poorly Wisconsin shot the basketball as they finished the game 17-for-50 (34 percent) from the field they still somehow had a chance of pulling out a victory. Simply put Wisconsin could never get over the hump and string together successful offensive possessions against a Richmond defense that forced Wisconsin into a season-high 15 turnovers.

With how poorly Wisconsin was shooting the basketball they didn’t do themselves any favors by failing to give themselves second chances. Wisconsin finished the game with eight offensive rebounds, which they only turned into four points.

The lack of presence in the paint didn’t just include failing to get offensive rebounds but also generating a lack of post touches for Reuvers. Wisconsin scored a season-low 10 points in the paint as they shot 5-for-14 on their opportunities in the paint. Including missing their last five shots in the paint as the last made field goal by Wisconsin in the paint came with 13:17 to go in the second half.

Grant Golden did a good job of challenging each shot against Wisconsin in the paint as he was responsible for one of the three blocks by Richmond. In addition, Golden was one of the main reasons why Wisconsin couldn’t generate second chances as 10 of his 12 rebounds came on the defensive glass.

Although Richmond did a good job of taking away the paint from Wisconsin at the same time the Badgers didn’t try and generate post opportunities either. Considering they needed to especially with Wisconsin struggling to find the bottom of the net from three.

Wisconsin attempted a three one too many times considering 27 of their 50 shot attempts came from three. Although Wisconsin shot a combined 26-for-54 (48.1 percent) from three the last two games the Badgers couldn’t recapture the same magic as Wisconsin only made seven of their 3-point attempts.

Tyler Wahl was the only player for Wisconsin to make at least two three’s as he made both of his attempts. While all five of Wisconsin’s starters attempted at least three, 3-pointers as they went a combined 4-for-21.

Reuvers and Kobe King were the only two Badgers to reach double figures finishing the game with 17 and 10 points respectively.

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Game Day Grades – Wisconsin vs. UW-Green Bay

What grades did Wisconsin earn following their victory over in-state foe UW-Green Bay?

Offense: B+

Wisconsin came out firing against UW-Green Bay as they were able to quickly build a double-digit lead over the Phoenix as the Badgers never trailed. By the time the 16-minute media timeout hit in the first half Wisconsin was up 16-4 and were shooting 6-for-9 from the field and were 3-for-5 from three.

Wisconsin’s shooting was strong throughout most of the game but the Badgers did hit some dry spells too, which opened the door for the Phoenix to climb back into the game.

Despite the strong start to the game from the field after the 16-minute media timeout, the Badgers went to shoot 3-for-7 from the field and committed five turnovers as the Badgers allowed Green Bay to cut their double-digit lead to six at 27-21 with 7:44 to go in the first half.

Wisconsin was able to regain their shooting form and end the half on a high note as the Badgers finished the first half on a 24-8 run. Wisconsin went 8-for-14 to end the half as five of those eight made field goals came from 3-point range.

The Badgers were two made three’s shy of tying a school record for most 3-pointers made in a game as the Badgers went 15-for-31 (48.4 percent) from three.

Seven different players for Wisconsin made at least one three and six different Badgers made at least two of their 3-point attempts. D’Mitrik Trice and Brad Davison each made three of their 3-point attempts while Aleem Ford, Kobe King, Nate Reuvers, and Brevin Pritzl all made two 3-pointers. Tyler Wahl (five points) went 1-for-2 on his 3-point attempts.

Wisconsin did an excellent job of working the basketball around as the Badgers registered 24 assists on their 32 made field goals. With the Badgers consistently playing selfless basketball it allowed for Wisconsin to consistently generate open looks on offense as Trice led the team with seven assists.

With Wisconsin consistently working the basketball around the Badgers were able to get contributions from a variety of players for a second straight game. As the Badgers had six different players reach double figures as Reuvers led the way with 19 points. Davison finished with 15 points, King and Ford each had 12 points, Trice had 11 points, and Pritzl scored 10 off the bench.

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Game Day Grades – Wisconsin vs. McNeese State

Grading the Wisconsin Badgers basketball performance against McNeese State.

Offense: B

Wisconsin’s offense in the second half was much improved compared to the first half. For starters, Wisconsin shot 60.7 percent (17-for-28) from the field over the final 20 minutes compared to shooting 44.4 percent (12-for-27) in the first half.

The Badgers were able to generate looks for themselves in the first half that simply didn’t fall, compared to the second half. The one constant, though, was the Badgers were able to consistently set their shots up by registering an assist as Wisconsin registered 19 assists on their 29 made field goals.

Eight different players for Wisconsin registered an assist and seven of the eight registered at least two. Trevor Anderson led the way with four assists off the bench as he played 13 minutes.

Wisconsin did well at generating points in the paint in the second half as 16 of Wisconsin’s 30 points in the paint came in the second half. Although Wisconsin finished the game with 30 points down low, the Badgers were able to do most of that damage without Nate Reuvers. Reuvers dealt with foul trouble throughout the game as he finished with four fouls in 21 minutes on the court.

Reuvers still finished the game with 10 points as he was one of four Badgers to reach double figures. Brad Davison led the way with 24 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the field, Aleem Ford finished with 16 points, and Brevin Pritzl had 13 points.

Defense: B

Wisconsin’s defense in the first half against McNeese State wasn’t very good, as the Badgers allowed the Cowboys to shoot 45.5 percent (10-for-22) from the field.

In particular, Wisconsin’s defense didn’t have an answer for Sha’Markus Kennedy, as the Badgers allowed him to score 18 points in the first half alone. But the Badgers defense was able to tighten in the second half defending him as he only scored two points on 1-for-2 shooting from the field in the second half.

With Wisconsin limiting Kennedy in the second half and making sure he couldn’t gain the same kind of comfort, he was forced to try and set up one of his teammates on offense. Kennedy finished the game with three assists all coming in the second half as he was one of three players for McNeese State to finish the game with three assists.

A.J. Lawson was the only other player for McNeese State to finish the game in double figures with 10 as the Cowboys finished the game 21-for-45 (46.7 percent) from the field.

Although Lawson did reach double figures he did struggle taking care of the basketball as he finished with six of the Cowboys 18 turnovers. With Wisconsin creating such a high amount of turnovers against McNeese State the Badgers did an excellent job of capitalizing their mistakes into 30 points.

Wisconsin was able to register 10 of McNeese State’s 18 turnovers off of steals.

Overall: B

Wisconsin didn’t play a great first half as the Badgers were only up by three at halftime. Wisconsin was able to get on track and officially put the game away in the second half when the Badgers went 13-for-15 from the field over the first 10 minutes of the second half including making 10 straight field goals over that stretch to put the Badgers up 71-to-52.

During Wisconsin’s hot streak a number of players contributed as Ford scored 10 points, Pritzl had seven points, Davison registered six points, and D’Mitrik Trice chipped in with two points.

In the stretch where Wisconsin made 10 straight of their shot attempts it also included the Badgers knocking down all four of their 3-point attempts. It was good for Wisconsin to finally see the three falls for them considering their struggles from the perimeter to begin the season. The struggles from the perimeter continued in the first half as Wisconsin went 3-for-13 but in the second half, it seemed like they couldn’t miss as they went 7-for-15.

Five different players for Wisconsin made at least one three and four of the five made at least two of their 3-point attempts. Walt McGrory was one of the five players to make a three as he finished the game with a career high nine points. McGrory was able to provide a spark for Wisconsin off the bench in the first half as he finished the game with two rebounds, two assists to one turnover in 24 minutes on the floor.

Wahl played a bench high 26 minutes and in his time on the floor, he was productive on both ends. Wahl finished the game with three points on 1-for-2 shooting from the field but he also registered three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Game MVP: Brad Davison

Davison certainly had his shot falling as he finished with a season high 24 points on an impressive 7-for-8 shooting from the field and 3-for-4 from 3-point range. In addition, Davison went 7-for-7 from the free throw line. Davison was able to set up his teammates as he finished the game with two assists and registered three rebounds. Not to mention with McNeese State struggling to take care of the basketball it wasn’t surprising to see Davison contributing in creating those extra offensive possessions as he had a team high four steals.