During his weekly press conference, Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said he has his Badger men’s basketball team focused on cherishing and preparing for the 40 extra minutes it earned by dispatching Kansas State 72-55 Saturday and advancing to the Sweet 16.
“All I know is, and I told the team, is that we get another 40 minutes together on the court … in a very special environment,” Ryan said. “All we know is we [have to] prepare for our next opponent and play 40 minutes.”
The Badgers set the school record for wins (31) Saturday by frustrating the heralded offensive attack of Kansas State’s freshmen Bill Walker and Michael Beasley.
But to earn another 40 minutes together, the Badgers’ top-ranked scoring defense (53.9 points per game allowed) will have to stymie the high-octane Davidson Wildcats and the NCAA Tournament’s most prolific scorer in the opening weekend—sophomore guard Stephen Curry. Senior forward Brian Butch said they are not taking the No. 10-seeded Wildcats lightly.
“People look at the seeds and make a big deal about them, but for us they’ve beaten two great teams to get where they’re at now, and for us we just have to worry about concentrating on the challenges they offer us as a team,” Butch said.
The most obvious challenge will be slowing down the sharp-shooting Curry, who has scored at least 30 points in each of his first three NCAA Tournament appearances dating back to last year, putting him in the company of legends like Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson.
Davidson overcame early deficits in its upset victories against No. 7 seed Gonzaga and No. 2 seed Georgetown by riding Curry’s onslaught of scoring and pure shooter’s touch.
Senior Michael Flowers is the likely candidate to guard Curry, though Flowers said he is not thinking too much about the matchup but rather about his past experiences that have prepared him to guard Curry.
“I don’t really think about it that much,” Flowers said. “I know it’s weird probably to hear that … I’ve been preparing for this game playing against Drew Neitzel, Eric Gordon and Manny Harris. Hopefully I can take all that I’ve learned playing those great players and try to remember what I did against them to help me contain Curry.
“He’s going to get his points … But you just have to make him work for it,” Flowers added. “At the end of the game, if he has nine points or 12 or 34, I would want him to say he had to work for every point he got.”
Although Curry has led the Wildcats’ offensive barrage, Davidson’s nation-leading 24-game winning streak has relied on a balanced attack and the contributions of senior swingman Jason Richards and junior postman Andrew Lovedale. The Badgers are not underestimating this team’s other weapons, according to Butch.
“Everyone talks about Curry, but they’ve got a lot of great other players that help that team win,” Butch said. “They’re pretty similar to us where they’ve got a lot of role players that do a great job and really look to get Curry the ball in position to score, and yet they make plays themselves too.”
The Badgers will need more than an outstanding performance from Flowers to prevent similar fates as Gonzaga and Georgetown, including the continued success of Trevon Hughes, who scored 25 against Kansas State, Greg Stiemsma, who had a career-high 14 points against the Wildcats, and Joe Krabbenhoft, whom Michael Flowers called their team’s “Mr. Incredible.”
“He faces challenges and he never backs down … He’ll do anything for a win, and that’s vital,” Flowers said.
Ryan doesn’t anticipate any major changes in preparation for Davidson, but he admits his team still has room for improvement and must bring a competitive edge to their “next 40 minutes” of tournament play, which begin Friday March 26 at 6:10 p.m. at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich.
