This will be remembered as the D’Mitrik Trice Game.
While Potter’s successful debut and Reuvers’ strong outing obviously deserved mention, it was the offensive explosion from D’Mitrik Trice that was the story of the game.
The junior point guard was averaging just 7.7 points leading into yesterday’s matchup, but he erupted for a career-high 31 points against the Panthers, the first time any Badger has scored at least 30 since Ethan Happ last January. It was one of those nights where it felt as though every shot Trice took was going to go in, and for the most part, that’s exactly what happened: he shot a blistering 11-14 overall, including 5-6 from downtown and 4-6 from the line.
He also racked up five rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Trice drilled a three on Wisconsin’s first possession of the game, and after an outing against Rutgers in which he was a complete non-factor, you could tell that it did wonders to his confidence to see that first shot go through the net.
The Badgers obviously can’t rely on Trice to consistently put up scoring numbers of the magnitude, but while he will probably always be a streaky shooter, it’s fair to expect better production from their floor general. As with Reuvers, if Wisconsin is going to turn things around and make an NCAA Tournament run, consistently stronger play from Trice is going to be necessary.
Confidence is everything for sparkplug shooters such as Trice. Perhaps last night’s incredible performance will provide enough of it to mark a major turning point in what has been a disappointing 2019-20 season for him so far.