The Wisconsin Badgers improved to 4-1 in conference play last night when they defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 80-73 in double overtime.
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller had a lot to say about the Badgers after the game, mostly about what they were able to do on the defensive end.
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“When you play the best teams in the country, which Wisconsin is, you have to find a way to step up, execute and make some tough plays,” Miller started with. “We didn’t do that when we needed to the most. Give them credit. They made some really good plays at the end of the game.”
The head coach continued to note how the Badgers “don’t give you a lot [defensively] and they’re very tough to pierce the paint with their bigs staying back the majority of the game.”
Miller was then asked about the play of his star Trayce Jackson-Davis in pick-and-roll scenarios and how the Badgers adapted to them as the game moved along.
“I thought [Wisconsin’s] ball screen defense was a little better there late when they didn’t let our guards get all the way down and they didn’t drop as much,” Miller said” They did a little more switching as well to stay in front, and we had our chances to be able to pop it inside a few times when we needed to. But when you look at Trayce [Jackson-Davis], you got 16 field goals in 49 minutes. Usually, he’s going to draw more fouls and get more free throw attempts…I think at the end of the day [Wisconsin] stepped up, they played really tough, they kept the ball in front of them really well with their switches and we weren’t able to get downhill as much…Good teams do that. They adjust, they play all the way through.”
Finally, Miller had some praise for the Badgers in the extra periods—both on the offensive and defensive end of the court.
On Tyler Wahl and his two big-time shots in double overtime:
“Late in the game they took advantage of a couple switches, but the two 3s in the second overtime that realistically broke down our defense kind of cracked the game for them.”
On the Hoosiers’ play at the end of the first overtime which the Badgers were able to successfully stop:
“End of the first overtime we called two timeouts and we drew up a play, the same play twice. We wanted to give Al Durham an opportunity to see if he could clear it out on the left side. I think they must’ve done a good job of keeping him from being able to get by. But we didn’t execute out of the timeouts to be able to keep the spacing. The bottom line is they tied it up.”
With the win, Wisconsin moves to 10-2 on the season and 4-1 in Big Ten play. All eyes now turn to their pivotal matchup against No. 10 Michigan just 4 days from now.