Monday, December 12, 2011

Back to Good Basketball

Jordan Taylor is now tied for second in the nation in assist/turnover ratio thanks in large part to his game against the Phoenix of Greenbay. He looked his best all year against them having 15 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, and perhaps the best of all 0 turnovers. Ryan Evans also added in on the 70-42 win, scoring 14 and picking up 6 rebounds, while the big man, Berggren, dominated on the defensive side with 3 blocked shots and leading the Badgers defense to 32.1% opponent's FG%.

Ben Brust dominated the game against UNLV, scoring 25 points (21 off 3-pointers) and only missing 1 shot in our 62-51 win. The latter half of this blog is devoted to him. The redshirt-freshman is our leading scorer at 12.6 PPG and perhaps most explosive player. Hes the only Badgers player to score over 20 twice this season, both of those games finishing with at least 7 threes.


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Dropped to #16

Nov. 30th was perhaps the Badgers biggest game of the year. Playing the #5 Tar Heels, Wisconsin, came up short in a 57-60 game. Leading UNC's charge was Harrison Barnes, North Carolina's captain and future lottery pick, who had 20 points. Ten of those points came in the late surge that the Tar Heels managed. Adding on the defensive side for UNC was John Henson who racked up 17 rebounds and 5 shot blocks. One reason UW struggled in the second half was Jordan Taylor who led our scoring. Even though he had 18 points and 4 assists he only shot 6-20 and forced too many shots when we needed to score.

On Saturday, Dec. 3rd, I had the privilege of attending the Marquette vs. Wisconsin Matchup. This game was one of only four ranked teams on our preseason schedule. The Badgers fell short 61-54, which snapped our 23-game home winning streak. A huge reason the Badgers lost was their FG percentage--32%. To add to the poor shooting the Badgers also only had one player, Taylor, who scored in the double digits. Although Taylor had had 13 points he struggled having 5 turnovers, his highest total this season, and hurting his ankle at one point in the game.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Badgers 6-0!!!!

Over the holidays the Badgers played three more scheduled games against University Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), Bradley (BU), and Brigham Young (BYU). Starring in the UMKC game was Berggren scoring 21 and adding 3 blks. The BU win was a team one as Evans, Gasser, and Taylor all put up 15 points while Berggren was busy down low grabbing 10 boards.



In Saturday's game versus BYU our star PG, Jordan Taylor, led our team to victory scoring 18 and dishing out 8 more assists. Brust also had another good outing scoring 21 points all off three's (7-10) he didn't need to take more than one shot inside the arc. On the defensive side there was both Bruesewitz and Berggren who had 6 rebounds and a block and 5 rebounds and 3 blocks respectively. Lastly, although UW held them to 43% shooting from the field, BYU was the only team so far this year to score over 50 points against us. If the Badgers expect to win against UNC this Wednesday they'll need both the scoring and defense that they've had the first 6 games of the season. 

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Out of all the things that I'm thankful for I'm most greatful for my dad. Without him I don't think I would have ever made it through the childhood I had. Also without him I feel like my mom would've controlled my life for a lot longer than I let her. My dad is my best friend and greatest leader. Love you, Pops

Monday, November 21, 2011

Badgers 3-0!!

Game 1
The Badgers first game was not much competition as we met the Owls from Kennesaw State. Wisconsin cruised to a 85-31 victory as John Gasser, the teams shooting-guard had 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assist, and 1 steal. Jared Berggren, our team's center, and preseason All-American PG Jordan Taylor also each added 11 points to the teams total. Leading on the defensive side of the ball were Mike Bruesewitz with 8 boards and Ryan Evans with 1 block.

Game 2
Sophomore backup to Jordan Taylor, Ben Brust, cruised onto the scene scoring 17 points against Colgate's Raiders. Brust had 4 three-pointers in the first half alone to go along with 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals. Having another great night behind Brust, Ryan Evans scored 7, while collecting 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block in the 68-41 win. Despite the two 17+ point wins Wisconsin have only shot the ball 44.3% from the field and an even worse 28.6% on the stripe.

Game 3
69-33 was the score of the Badgers Saturday game against Wofford. Leading the way against the terriers was Josh Gasser scoring 16 and grabbing 5 boards.Over the first 3 games it seem as though Gasser is emerging as a team leader beside Taylor, which will be extremely important if we plan on getting past the Sweet 16 this year. On the other hand, Jordan Taylor had an off game with only 4 points and 4 assists, but Ryan Evans backed him up compiling 13 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks.