The Wisconsin Badgers beat the Denver Pioneers 75-68 in their season opener on Monday in a game that was much closer than expected. Wisconsin entered as 25.5-point favorites, but had some struggles on both sides of the ball, as Denver fought to make it a game in the second half.
Wisconsin was led by transfer wing Eian Elmer, who had 18 points on 7-of-13 from the field, but they were outscored by Denver 38-31 in the second half after taking a 44-30 lead into halftime.
Here are three quick takeaways
from Wisconsin’s 75-68 win over Denver on Monday night in the season opener.
Uncharacteristic shooting night
It was not a pretty shooting day for the Wisconsin Badgers, both from three and the free-throw line.
Known to hunt shots from deep, at the free-throw line, and at the rim, the Badgers went just 6 of 26 from deep. Braeden Carrington was the only player with more than one triple, going 3 of 7 from three. The rest of the team went a combined 3 of 19.
The free-throw shooting was an even bigger travesty. Wisconsin shot 7 of 18 from the free-throw line, making the game far closer than expected. And this problem started with their stars, as Owen Foxwell and Nolan Winter combined to shoot 1 of 9 from the line, a ghastly figure.
Things did not look pretty for the Badgers, who have a lot of questions to answer on that side of the ball. Now, that level of inefficiency won’t be the case all season long, but it’s a concern that a team that has good shooters looked this poor on Monday.
Depth minutes
Wisconsin went deep into its bench in the first half, playing 11 guys, but the way their minutes were distributed were slightly different than expected.
Austin Rapp was the first guy off the bench and played a ton of minutes with Victory Onuetu picking up two quick fouls and Will Garlock out. But behind him, it was Zach Kinziger, Jack Janicki, and then interestingly, freshman Jackson Ball, who came in next. They were followed by Hayden Jones and Trey Autry, who played less than a minute in the half.
Kinziger seems to have his role as the backup point guard. Janicki had started the three exhibition games at shooting guard, but it wasn’t a surprise he went to the bench for Braeden Carrington to start the season. But Ball coming in over Trey Autry and Hayden Jones was certainly interesting.
We’ve shared how Ball seems to be more ready to play as a freshman, but the Badgers are quite deep, which means some players will be left out of the rotation. In the second half, though, with the game tightening, the freshman saw the court for just 26 seconds, getting pulled after a turnover.
Instead, Autry saw five minutes of action, while Janicki saw nine and Rapp saw 15. Wisconsin also went heavy on their starters in both halves, with Carrington, Foxwell, and Winter all seeing 30+ minutes while Rapp played 30 and Elmer played 26.
There’s still a lot to figure out with the rotations for Wisconsin, and it looks like Greg Gard is experimenting a bit right now.
Areas to cleanup
Wisconsin looked like it was going to run away with this one at the beginning of the second half, but it got a bit careless from there and made this one much closer than it should’ve been.
There were some turnover issues, but also struggles to get stops on the defensive end, with Denver going on a 20-7 run to cut the lead to four at 58-54. Made free throws keep this one from getting as close as it did, but it just wasn’t a very well-executed half from Wisconsin over the final 30 minutes.
I thought there were some good signs. In a matchup that Wisconsin should’ve taken advantage in the paint, they got a ton of looks at the rim to offset their ugly shooting from deep. But there’s a lot to work on after Monday, be it on the defensive side, taking care of the ball, or the free throw woes.
In addition, Nolan Winter needs to step up more after a rough first game offensively. While he pulled down 14 rebounds, Winter had just six points and did not score in the second half, missing both of his field goals and all four of his free throws. Braeden Carrington and Owen Foxwell were able to pick up the load late, but Winter will have to be better going forward.
