The Wisconsin Badgers pulled off an 88-61 win over the Central Michigan Chippewas on Monday, getting back on track with a nice win, despite missing star John Blackwell, who was questionable with an injury and did not play.
Wisconsin was in dire need of a win after consecutive losses to the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Villanova Wildcats. But, they also needed to show dominance on Monday, which came in the form of a 27-point victory with good play on both sides.
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Here are three quick takeaways from the Badgers win over Central Michigan.
Freshmen guards step up
With John Blackwell out, freshman guard Hayden Jones stepped into a starting role for the first time in his career.
It was a relatively regular night for the freshman, who had six points, four rebounds, and two turnovers in 24 minutes of action. But, it’s this type of experience that the Badgers are hoping to give their young players during these non-conference games to get them up to speed for Big Ten play, which starts in January.
Jones wasn’t the only freshman guard who saw an uptick in role. Freshman guard Zach Kinziger made his season debut, breaking his redshirt and playing 13 minutes on Tuesday in a bit of a surprise.
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Kinziger was initially exploring the idea of redshirting, but it seems he’s made enough of an impression in practice for head coach Greg Gard to trust him. He came in at the 13:37 mark of the first half for Nick Boyd, with Will Garlock as Wisconsin’s eighth and ninth players in the rotation on Monday.
Kinziger’s impact was immediately felt in his first game. After five scoreless minutes in the first half, the freshman had six points on two threes and two assists in the second half, while being a +11 in seven minutes of action.
Wisconsin’s bench scoring has been a question at times. It’s unclear how the rotation will look come Big Ten play, but Kinziger is at least giving the coaches some thoughts to have.
Forwards shine
Nolan Winter had been dominating to start the season. We were waiting to see someone complement him.
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Well, that happened on Monday, as Austin Rapp had one of his best games as a Badger, scoring 18 points on 7 of 10 from the field off the bench. It was a much different outlook from Rapp than the game he had against Villanova, where he seemed hesitant to shoot at times.
But, it wasn’t just the scoring. Against a smaller team, Rapp brought down seven boards and was a +18 in 20 minutes. He also had three assists.
Winter led the team with 18 points as well on an efficient 6 of 9 from the field, hitting five of his six free throws, while grabbing eight rebounds. Wisconsin allowed just two offensive rebounds on Monday after an ugly performance on the glass against Villanova.
These games are opportunities for growth for the younger bigs. We saw that from Rapp, as well as freshman Will Garlock, on Monday.
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Garlock, who has been in and out of the rotation in some bigger non-conference games, had four points and five rebounds in 14 minutes of action in the win. It was another game to get some valuable experience ahead of conference play for him as well.
Turnover improvement
There were a lot of good things to take away from the win. Wisconsin shot the ball well (53.7 percent from the field, 41.9 percent from deep). They got to the free throw line 26 times. They had 32 points in the paint and 44 bench points. They played good defense and limited offensive rebounds.
But, one area that held them back in the first half was turnovers. The Badgers, who have seen some poor turnover games this year, had seven in the first half, which kept it a 12-point game at halftime despite Wisconsin shooting 59.1 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from deep.
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Andrew Rohde, Hayden Jones, and Nolan Winter each had a pair of giveaways, while Jack Janicki had one off the bench.
In the second half, though, Wisconsin had just two turnovers, while scoring 48 points and averaging a whopping 1.55 points per possession. It was a highly efficient half of basketball, and one with the bench in for a good part.
Wisconsin needs to continue to take care of the ball. We’ll see if they can build off the second half from Monday.
