Wisconsin Basketball: 2018-19 keys for the Badgers at home vs. Purdue

2. Wisconsin needs its front court to step up

Wisconsin has a really shallow front court. Surprisingly that wasn’t the only reason why they lost to Minnesota. The Badgers best player does reside in the front court, but there’s not much help after the two starters. Against the Golden Gophers it was their shooters in the back court that out played the Badgers which doesn’t seem right. But Ethan Happ and company managed to get Minnesota into foul trouble late.

Wisconsin let Lamar Stevens try and defeat them single handily. He dropped 22 points. He’s a forward, but isn’t your prototypical post up man. Mike Watkins managed 10 rebounds, but just four points. No one else reached double-digits. Wisconsin still got beat in the rebounding department, but Charlie Thomas played 10 minutes, scored seven points, stayed out of foul trouble and really took a giant step.

The fact that Aleem Ford only played seven minutes and Thomas was in for 10 may be related. It also may be that Greg Gard had trust in Thomas being more physical with the bigger Nittany Lions. Thomas does go six-foot-eight, 253. He has potential to be somewhat of a force in the paint. Ford is as tall as Thomas, but weighs almost 50 points less.

Remember when I said we’d revisit Matt Haarms and Trevion Williams? This is where they come into play. No one in the Big Ten is going to match the seven-foot-two Haarms. The best thing to do is force him to play outside and throw double-teams at him. Also try and get him into foul trouble. The Badgers managed to do that against Minnesota with their big. Reuvers and Happ will have to play some extra minutes to body the big Boilermaker.

I wasn’t planning on talking about Williams. He hadn’t played more than 12 minutes in a game and missed two of them before the showdown with Michigan State. Then he played 21 minutes, scored 13 and grabbed 12 boards. This isn’t Strickland putting up double-digits against Savannah State. It’s the Spartans at the Breslin Center.

So that adds extra pressure to the already depleted Badger front court. Evan Boudreaux is six-foot-eight and will more than likely draw Happ. That’s because Grady Eifert starts and has the ability to shoot from the outside which favors Nate Reuvers.

I have a theory that Williams was played a lot more against Michigan State to prepare him for the battle with Happ on Friday. Or I could be totally wrong and Williams will only play five minutes. But I’m guessing my first statement will be true. Either way, Wisconsin better stay out of foul trouble, the bigs need to hit free throws and hope one or more Boilermaker big men gets into foul trouble.