On a night when Wisconsin's shooters went cold, the Badgers knew they would need to find other ways to win. The Wisconsin men's basketball team used rebounding and aggressive play to hold on for a 60-58 victory over the Idaho State Bengals.
Wisconsin shot poorly from the field all night, going 20-of-53, including 5-of-22 from behind the 3-point line. UW head coach Bo Ryan said that off-nights from several of his players made it much more difficult for Wisconsin to compete at a high level. In particular, Wisconsin's younger players had a rough night, as sophomore forward Tim Jarmusz and freshman guard Rob Wilson shot a combined 0-of-7 from the field.
The young guys tonight struggled from a shooting position against that zone,"" Ryan said. ""[Jarmusz is] going to hit some of those, he's going to have a streak where he'll do that in a game. [Wilson has] been shooting it very well. And then you get a night where you're not. I think to our guys it felt like an away game tonight.""
However, Wisconsin was still able to escape with the victory due to strong rebounding and aggressiveness inside. The Badgers out-rebounded the Bengals 15 to five, resulting in 15 second-chance points for Wisconsin. Ryan said that this was even more important given the flow of the game.
""I really liked the effort in a lot of ways and the fact that we touched the post in the second half where we got some decent looks,"" Ryan said. ""In a low possession game like that, everything gets magnified.""
Senior forward Marcus Landry finished the game with 14 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore forward Jon Leuer provided a spark off the bench with 11 points and seven rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft said the play of Wisconsin's big men was crucial and that he was encouraged by the team's improvement from its last game against Marquette.
""Against the zone, that's what you have to do,"" Krabbenhoft said. ""You're going to have some misses, and so we have to clean those up, and that was a point of emphasis. Every week, every day we go at it, get on the glass, and we did a nice job because we knew against Marquette we didn't really do that, so we wanted to bounce back and have a better performance.""
Throughout the night, Idaho State played a zone defense. Bengal head coach Joe O'Brien said Idaho State usually plays a man-to-man defense and that although the zone was effective for a period of time, Wisconsin's ability to recognize it created a major disadvantage.
""The fact that they got to look at that zone for so long tonight, I think finally they figured out what they could do against it,"" O'Brien said. ""They got it into the low post too many times, they found dribble penetration gaps up near the elbow a number of times. That's what happens when you zone for 40 minutes, eventually people figure things out. It's not the best way to defend, but we felt like it would give us our best chance tonight.""
Junior guard Jason Bohannon was able to capitalize on the Bengals' zone, leading the Badgers with 18 points. Bohannon shot 4-of-11 from the field, all four field goals coming from beyond the 3-point arc. Bohannon also produced at the free-throw line, shooting a perfect 6-of-6, all in the game's final five minutes.
The Badgers will continue their four-game homestand this weekend when they face UW-Green Bay on Saturday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
