The Wisconsin Badgers began off their Huge Ten Match with a dominant 87-56 victory over the Maryland Terrapins, marking their greatest win of the season.
With the win, the Badgers will advance to the subsequent spherical, the place they are going to face off in opposition to the Northwestern Wildcats on Friday, with tip-off set for about 1:30 P.M.
Offensively, Wisconsin shot 51.7 p.c from the sector and 64 p.c from three in certainly one of their finest taking pictures performances of the yr.
Defensively, the Badgers had been stout, limiting Maryland to 39.3 p.c from the sector and 40 p.c from three, as they had been composed on that finish for the whole lot of the sport.
Listed below are three fast takeaways from the Badgers’ 87-58 win over the Maryland Terrapins.
Three-point taking pictures
The Badgers actually struggled to hit their threes in opposition to the Purdue Boilermakers over the weekend, however the shot high quality was there.
On Thursday, Wisconsin was lights out from three in certainly one of their finest taking pictures performances of the season, ranging from the opening minutes of the sport.
The Badgers linked on every of their first six threes of the sport, permitting them to get out to an early 21-9 lead.
These photographs got here in a wide range of methods, as Wisconsin was capable of primarily join on catch-and-shoot alternatives, primarily hitting the photographs that they missed in opposition to Purdue.
Wisconsin completed the primary half taking pictures 10/13 from deep, whereas connecting on 18/28 of their subject objectives to place up 47 factors over the primary 20 minutes.
The threes got here from plenty of sources, as A.J. Storr and Steven Crowl hit on a pair within the first half, whereas John Blackwell got here out scorching scorching, hitting all 4 of his threes within the half.
The three-point taking pictures prolonged to the second half, the place Wisconsin shot 6/12 p.c from three, resulting in a 16/25 day general (64 p.c) from deep.
Connor Essegian, who performed the ultimate 9 minutes of the sport, was even capable of get into the motion, hitting a pair of threes and scoring 9 factors.
The Badgers have been an inconsistent three-point taking pictures workforce this season, but it surely’s clear how excessive their offensive ceiling is when these photographs are falling.
That’ll positively be some extent of emphasis when the Badgers face off in opposition to Northwestern on Friday.
Protection
A lot can be mentioned in regards to the Badgers offense on Thursday, and deservedly so, however Wisconsin’s protection was equally as spectacular on the night time.
Whereas Jahmir Younger had himself a pleasant first half with 15 factors on 7/11 taking pictures, the Badgers held the Terrapins to 26 whole factors on 42.9 p.c from the sector and 28.6 p.c from three.
Maryland was capable of actually function out of transition in opposition to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Wednesday, however these alternatives merely weren’t there in opposition to the Badgers on Thursday.
Then, over the primary eight and a half minutes within the second half, Wisconsin outscored Maryland 20-5, extending their result in 67-31 at one level.
Defensively, Wisconsin drove Maryland off the three-point line, whereas taking away photographs on the rim, resulting in a powerful general efficiency.
Moreover, the Badgers had been capable of totally shut down each different Maryland participant outdoors of Younger, resulting in a one-dimensional offensive assault that couldn’t perform persistently for the Terrapins.
Like their three-point taking pictures, Wisconsin’s protection has been inconsistent at occasions this yr, because the workforce struggled to click on collectively, regardless of having some spectacular particular person defenders.
On Thursday, nevertheless, when it mattered, the Badgers protection got here to play, and was as necessary to their win because the offense.
Passing
Wisconsin typically predicates its offense on stable ball motion, resulting in pick-and-roll actions and open photographs.
Effectively, the passing efforts had been key to their glorious shot-making on Thursday, and the numbers mirrored that.
Wisconsin scored 47 factors on 18 subject objectives within the first half, of which 14 had been assisted on.
Chucky Hepburn, the workforce’s main facilitator, had seven assists himself, whereas Max Klesmit added three of his personal.
That philosophy carried over the second half as Wisconsin assisted on 11 of their 13 subject objectives throughout the interval.
Whether or not it was the catch-and-shoot alternatives, the pick-and-roll or simply rapidly transferring the ball, the Badgers’ passing efforts had been instrumental to their flowing offense on Thursday.