Game Grades and Observations from Wisconsin’s Loss at Purdue

[Da-news-now]

Recap


The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 66-55 in the always loud and hostile Mackey Arena. The Badgers were ice cold from the field in the first half, and trailed 29-23 at the break. Wisconsin hit their first five shots to start the second half, narrowing the deficit to four points. Badger freshman D’Mitrik Trice then missed a wide open fast break layup, and Purdue answered with a three-pointer, sparking a 12-0 Boilermaker run. With the momentum and crowd on their side, Purdue finished strong, never looking back on their way to a dominating home win.

The Badgers were led by Ethan Happ with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, and six steals, although he only shot 7-16 from the field. In fact, the entire Wisconsin team struggled from the field, shooting only 39% for the game. The Badgers also only connected on 2-14 from beyond the arc. In comparison, Purdue shot 52.2% from the field and hit 7-15 from three-point range. The loss drops Wisconsin to 13-3 and 2-1 in Big Ten play.

Observations


– Wisconsin still struggles to defend good post players. That was a huge problem against UNC, and it was definitely a cause for concern today. Isaac Haas was able to get fantastic position down low, and converted that into 13 points. Caleb Swanigan added 18 points on 7-10 shooting. It’s certainly not a lack of effort. Happ was flying around in the paint, and ended up with six steals. The problem is that Wisconsin just doesn’t have enough size this season.

Hard not to score with this position. pic.twitter.com/kafrI6qDaE

— Big Ten Geeks (@bigtengeeks) January 8, 2017
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-I’m not really concerned with this loss. Purdue shot the lights out and Wisconsin was ice cold. The atmosphere in Mackey Arena was also as intense as any the Badgers will face this season. Not many teams in the country could have beat Purdue on the road the way they shot today.

-Wisconsin had a couple plays today that may be seen on SportsCenter’s Not Top 10. With 19:30 left in the half, Vitto Brown took a dribble, then picked the ball up. He waited a few seconds, looked for someone to pass to, and then took another dribble. Yeah… I don’t think anything further needs to be said. Later in the game, Happ had a steal and threw an outlet to a wide open D’Mitrik Trice. With a chance to cut the deficit to just two points, he blew the layup, sparking a 12-0 Purdue run. Plays like that are how you lose tight road games.

-Despite the fact that he had a relatively poor shooting day, Happ played with a ton of grit. He played tenacious defense, logging six steals. Six steals is good for anyone, but for a 6-10 center, it is incredible.

6 steals for Ethan Happ, really the only thing that has slowed Biggie down. pic.twitter.com/rANpMMvZVa

— Big Ten Geeks (@bigtengeeks) January 8, 2017
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-Wisconsin’s strength continues to be playing through their big men and letting them facilitate. Nigel Hayes and Ethan Happ have to be the best duo of low post passers in the country.

Iverson on a great look from Happ. pic.twitter.com/qtRY6QKNXE

— Big Ten Geeks (@bigtengeeks) January 8, 2017
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This is a power forward passing with his off hand. pic.twitter.com/Ayy73x9cqv

— Big Ten Geeks (@bigtengeeks) January 8, 2017
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-It is too bad Purdue and Wisconsin only play once this season. I think that this game would look much different in the Kohl Center. The Big Ten schedule makers need to figure something out to make it more fair in the future, because this gives Purdue a huge advantage in the Big Ten title race.

Game Grades

Continue reading...

 

[TW]

Good assessment. Maybe the individual grades are a little high? Maybe one notch across the board?

Long winning streaks in basketball turn into acceptance that you're going to win. A loss, now and then, will put you back on track. This loss should do that.

Purdue has to visit Madison this year. It's going to be interesting seeing where they both stand at that point.

 

[FlaPack]

Good assessment. Maybe the individual grades are a little high? Maybe one notch across the board?

Long winning streaks in basketball turn into acceptance that you're going to win. A loss, now and then, will put you back on track. This loss should do that.

Purdue has to visit Madison this year. It's going to be interesting seeing where they both stand at that point.

Purdue does not visit Madison. Only meeting this year

 

[57packer]

Poor shooting and getting pounded on the boards will kill you. When you look at the shooting stats and how badly UW was out-rebounded, it's kind of surprising it was only an 11 point margin. Hayes, Koenig, Showy and Brown all had bad shooting nights. You can withstand one of them, but not all 4. If they each hit one or two more shots, this is a down to the wire game.

 

[eyecatcher]

My biggest problem with the performance yesterday was the inability of the guards to get open looks at the basket. Purdue blanketed the guards at the 3 point line and their lack of movement without the ball prevented the inside out passing game. The Badgers looked flat pretty much the entire game. Not a big deal in the grand scheme but I would have expected a little more going into a big game like that.

I. Hass is a beast in the post and looks like he has mastered his footwork. Tough to stop a 7'2" 290 lb beast like that with a 6'10" 230 lb guy.

Swanigan is going to be a great player for Purdue if he stays. His outside shooting to go with his post play and rebounding will translate well to the NBA.

 

[TW]

My bad. The Boilermakers aren't going to Madison this year.

57packer & eyecatcher summed up two important issues the Badgers need to deal with. They didn't seem able to move the ball around the perimeter like they should, and how do you play against someone like Haas in the middle? On Swanigan, he's amazing. Started out slowly but when he hit his stride, dominated.

The Badgers weren't able to drive the lanes. They need to work on it. If you can't drive to the bucket from outside, you can't force guys like Haas to commit fouls, and be out of position for rebounds. It also cost them the outside shot because Purdue knew they could play out on them, and they couldn't respond.

It was a good game to learn from.

 

[FlaPack]

The only guy who has the ability to drive off the dribble us Zak. I talking about guts playing the 1 or 2. I think they went 0-7 from 3 in t the first half from 3. Did not watch the game just going on stats. This is not a deep team I don't think at this point. It's early and that can change

 

[eyecatcher]

As high as they were on Pritzl and VanVliet, I'm surprised neither one is getting any court time when it matters. They have depth but apparently it isn't game ready yet.

 

[57packer]

I think Pritzl is still getting back to form after essentially doing very little on the court last year. Van Vliet, I suspect, is hampered by his slight build and Gards need for sound defense. Against Purdue for example, who was Van Vliet going to guard. Haas and Swanigan are so much stronger, they would have eaten him up down low.

The team really lacks effective depth this year. A couple of months ago most people, including me, were speculating that they could end up going 9-10 deep. Ultimately, they have 7 "ready" guys and are playing Illikainen and Thomas because they have to, even though neither one of them are really "ready".