Wisconsin Basketball: Takeaways from opening loss to Saint Mary’s

2. Guards need to step up in big moments.

Wisconsin has been one of the nation’s most successful programs in the entire nation over the past several seasons. The Badgers’ impressively stout defense year in and year out has been the main reason for their consistency on the national stage but the team has also been superb in isolation situations. The swing offense creates mismatches, especially in the post, and guards have typically the beneficiaries of this system. There are plenty of examples of this over the years in Madison.

With regards to this season, that same offensive theory applies but Wisconsin’s guards struggled to answer the call against Saint Mary’s. Of course, the Gaels’ deserves some credit for this but D’Mitrik Trice absolutely needs to be more effective as a scorer. He posted just 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting from the floor. Saint Mary’s did a nice job forcing him into difficult situations but he needs to take the next step with his aggression as a playmaker. Trice definitely has the chops to make big shots.

Brad Davison, who scored 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting, stepped up in big moments but he is not as dynamic with the ball in his hands as Trice. Davison is more one-dimensional as an offensive threat as he is mostly used as a scorer while Trice exhibits better playmaking vision. Due to this, Trice will likely be the one commanding the ball in crunch-time and he needs to perform at a higher level down the stretch of games. He has shown a major “killer instinct” in the past so this might just have been a tough matchup for him.

Even without Ethan Happ, Wisconsin boasts a relatively experienced lineup and that did not show in the final minute of regulation of overtime. With that said, Saint Mary’s also did not look great down the stretch as another veteran team. Perhaps both defenses just deserve more credit.