With the Wisconsin men's basketball team not having played against an actual opponent yet, it is possible the team might still have a few kinks to be worked out. That was not the case for the Badgers Friday, as they took care of business, dominating their Division III opponent, UW-Stout, 82-33.
With 12 Badgers scoring in the game, Wisconsin displayed its depth, which makes the team a huge favorite to go deep in this year's NCAA Tournament.
However, the leader on the floor Friday night was neither senior forward Alando Tucker nor senior guard Kammron Taylor, but senior center Jason Chappell. Chappell scored 14 points on 6 of 7 shooting, including two 3-pointers. Attempting only 17 shots from behind the arc all last season, Chappell insistsed he is confident in that facet of his game.
""It's always something I felt I could do so if I'm open, why not shoot it?"" Chappell said. ""Something I'll definitely be looking to do more than last year is shoot the ball, and I've definitely heard it from a couple of these guys that I need to take the open shot.""
The Badgers opened the game on an 11-0 run and led 38-14 after a half. Chappell led Wisconsin with eight in the first half, not missing a shot, while Taylor and junior forward Brian Butch scored seven and six, respectively.
Wisconsin started the second half just as hot with a 13-3 run. The Badgers stretched the lead to 40 on a steal and layup by freshman guard Trevon Hughes, and a score by classmate Jason Bohannon stretched the lead to 51.
Head coach Bo Ryan emphasized the exhibition games are really for Bohannon, Hughes and the rest of the freshman class.
""The lights are on, the scores being kept, there's officials, there's X number of thousands of people in the stands,"" Ryan said, stressing that he liked what he saw after his young players' anxiousness wore off. ""That's what you do exhibitions for, you get used to that and you just try to play the game the way it's supposed to be played.""
The Badger defense, as well as the lack of Blue Devil offense, was certainly on display Friday night. Stout's freshman forward David Singh's two free throws with seven seconds left gave the Blue Devils 33 points, just one more than the number of turnovers they committed.
A true test for the Badgers was defending the Blue Devils' two seven-foot brothers, Jacob and John Nonemacher. For Wisconsin, the opportunity to play against two big men was great preparation for the Big Ten season.
""There aren't too many teams we'll face that have two seven-footers going high-low with one another,"" Ryan said. ""That's good for us to get that kind of work for those we do play.""
Next up for the Badgers is Carroll College Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Kohl Center.
