12/2/23 Marquette @ Wisconsin game thread

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, RedStickBrew said:

I would love to see Gard play Blackwell and Storr together more. This is a perfect matchup to see them together

I think it's an intriguing idea. I expected to see it more today than we did. But you can't argue with the results of staying big; they had a big edge on the boards which was huge. My only negative regarding the bigs was Wahl somehow lost #12 about three times, which shouldn't have happened. Also not sure why Ilver got the minutes he did, outside of it simply being a case of him doing well enough in practice that he isn't THAT far behind Gilmore & Winter and Gard feels he deserves a little run.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I guess this is why you emphasize the "unexciting" stuff like fundamentally sound position defense, taking care of the ball, touching the post and rebounding. Outside of Klesmit, we were 0-10 from three for the game. Wasn't a killer because they did a terrific job of getting to the line & limited the runouts.

You kinda knew they'd make a push. They're too good not too. What sucked was their best stretch on both ends---first 5-6 minutes of the 2nd half---coincided with probably our worst segment, where we stopped touching the post & got too loose with the ball.

The veteran poise once the lead melted to one was extremely impressive. Wahl still looks a little lacking afa finishing at the rim but he & Crowl were big positives on both ends. And I thought Storr did a great job in some of the late possessions with his decision making.

Twenty-four out of twenty=eight from the line.😍

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, Oxy said:

 Heck, after re-watching much of last years victory at MU, the ceiling for LAST years team was pretty high. 

Agree. A buzzer-beating 3 by Dickinson in Ann Arbor, and the circus-like shot at the end of the Kansas game. Minus those two plays, they win 19 in the regular season and, even with the other late-game failures, probably make the tournament.

[homer]

An encouraging thing about this game as a Badger fan is they won without having to hit a ton of threes. That was a death knell for them the last few seasons.

[LouisEly]

Marquette outrebounded 38-23.  That's the one weakness of that team, the lack of interior size.  Smart is loyal to his players and his recruits and didn't have any open schollies for any bigs in the portal.  Given how they were outrebounded and that Joplin and Kolek went a combined 2-14 from 3, I'm surprised it was as close as it was.