Wisconsin 60, Stanford 50: Last Word

November 11, 2022
|In Badgers
|By Zach Heilprin

MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin got 17 points from Tyler Wahl to move to 2-0 on the season with a 60-50 win over Stanford at American Family Field on Friday night.

Player of the Game: Tyler Wahl

The senior continues to carry the scoring load for Wisconsin. After dropping 19 points and 10 rebounds in the opener against South Dakota, Wahl had 17 points and five rebounds against the Cardinal. He got the Badgers off to a good start, backing his guy down for a quick two to open the game and then a minute later getting a steal and a dunk. He finished with three of Wisconsin’s 11 steals on the night.

Wahl’s outing could have been even better but he managed to go to just 4-for-8 from the free throw line.

The good: The defense

Outside of a short stretch to begin the second half, Wisconsin’s defense suffocated Stanford. Coming off a game in which they scored 88 points and shot 60% in a season-opening win over Pacific, the Cardinal shot just 36.2% against the Badgers. That included a 1-for-16 effort from beyond the arc, which followed up South Dakota’s 2-for-15 outing vs Wisconsin in its opener. The Badgers also forced 16 turnovers and turned those into 18 points, all in the first half.

“Sometimes the ball is not going to go in. That’s when we got to rely on our defense,” Wahl said. “That’s something that coach really talked about and something that we really buy into here at Wisconsin. We really buy into the defense. This group of guys, I feel like we’re a good team defense.”

Coach Greg Gard knew coming into the year they would rely on their defense to win games and that definitely played out Friday night.

The not so good: Second-half offense

After turning it over just three times in the first half, Wisconsin got sloppy after the break, giving the ball away six times, which led to eight points for a struggling Stanford offense. A key stretch came after the Badgers had taken a 12-point lead. Instead of finishing the Cardinal off, they turned it over on back-to-back possessions and Stanford took advantage on the other end to cut the lead in half. What could have been a double-digit game the rest of the way became a bit of a dog fight before the Badgers were able to finally put it away in the final few minutes.

“Sometimes the ball is not going to go in. That’s when we’ve got to rely on our defense,” Wahl said. “That’s something that coach really talked about and something that we really buy into here. In Wisconsin, we really buy into the defense. This group of guys, I feel like we’re a good team defense.”

Stat of the Game: 13

That’s how many points Jordan Davis had in his second start for the Badgers. It was easily a career-high for the junior, who had previously never scored more than six points at Wisconsin. His night included a big put back off a Wahl missed free throw to give the Badgers a double-digit lead with 4:29 left. Davis also delivered on the defensive end, helping to hold Michael Jones to nine points on 3-for-7 shooting after he went for 31 points in the opener.

“He just he came out confident ready to go,” Wahl said of his teammate. “Jordan is a great player. We see it in practice all the time. We’ve seen spurts of it in the games. I’m just really happy for him that he was able to put a great complete game together today.”

What They Said:

Gard on whether he can already tell whether this team has the grit and toughness needed to compete:

“I think they understand what we need to be good at and what is non-negotiable. And offense comes and goes. You know we sat there earlier this week (vs South Dakota) and we went and banged in 12 threes. I said we can’t always depend on that. But we can depend on our ability to guard, rebound, take care of the ball. Those things are non-negotiables that we want every night. Then, offensively, play free and play relaxed and try to get the best that you can get for that possession. But this group knows that our strength is in our toughness and our grittiness. And that’s embedded in the fiber of this program, so for us to stray away from that would be foolish on our part.”

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In Case You Missed It

— An announced crowd of 17,927 watched the Badgers beat Stanford in the first basketball game played at American Family Field. Gard loved the atmosphere and told reporters he’d like to do something like this again in the next few years.

“This is 15 years in the dream bank, so to speak, or trying to make something like this happen. And then for it to come off like it did tonight, the atmosphere and the fans how they showed up,” Gard said. “It’s a huge kickoff, so to speak, for college basketball, which is what we wanted, a spotlight on our game. To be able to do it in the state, I think is great for the state of Wisconsin and basketball within the state.”

— It was a tough night for Max Klesmit. The Wofford transfer picked up a pair of fouls in the first three minutes of the game. He picked up his third early in the second half and would end up playing for just 17 minutes.

— With Klesmit in foul trouble, freshman Connor Essegian was called upon earlier than expected. He seemed more than ready for the challenge, hitting a couple 3-pointers, and ending up with eight points. Wisconsin also had enough confidence in him defensively to have him guard Jones for stretches as well.

— Gard has said he thinks on different nights they’ll go 10 or 11 deep and that’s what they did against Stanford. Wisconsin played 11 guys in the first half, including having to use Isaac Lindsey as the backup point guard to give Hepburn a rest with Klesmit on the bench in foul trouble.

“We’ve talked a lot about it’s gonna take everybody,” Gard said. “I don’t say that just to keep everybody happy in the locker room. It really is. I think this team’s strength is in its numbers.”

— Steven Crowl played a career-high 34 minutes. He ended up with nine points and 11 rebounds, the most he’s had in a game. He came out after picking up his fourth foul in the final minute of the game because Gard thought he had fouled out. He joked afterward that his foul check guy must do a better job of reminding him how many fouls each guy has.

What’s next?

Wisconsin (2-0) will host UW-Green Bay on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.