Big Ten Basketball: Top 5 point guard-big man combos for 2019-20 season
No. 3 D’Mitrik Trice and Nate Reuvers, Wisconsin Badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers finished the 2019-20 college basketball season ranked 17th in the country and earned a share of the Big Ten title. They finished fourth in the Big Ten last year and ranked 21st in the nation at season’s end. Greg Gard earning Big Ten Coach of the Year also solidified the team’s rise in the conference.
The Badgers’ success has come in part due to the play of D’Mitrik Trice and Nate Reuvers. Reuvers had big shoes to fill after Ethan Happ left the program. While the offense didn’t run exclusively through Reuvers, he did everything he needed to do to lead the team to where they found themselves. He was the team’s leading scorer averaging 13.1 ppg and 4.5 rpg. Trice is a guy that showed his playmaking ability through perimeter shooting, passing and driving to the basket. He had two 20-point games and a 30-point game this season which proved he has the ability to take over when his number is called. He averaged 9.8 ppg, four rpg and 4.2 apg this season.
Right now, the Badgers have the 19th best 2020 recruiting class nationally and third-best Big Ten recruiting class with four-star power forward Ben Carlson from Minnesota’s East Ridge High School. Jordan and Johnny Davis, Steven Crowl and Lorne Bowman round out the class and they’re all three-star athletes.
Trice and Reuvers are juniors so it would benefit Wisconsin to have them come back for their senior seasons and go after an outright Big Ten title in 2021. Check out some of their highlights together.
Trice in bounds the basketball to Reuvers who does a great job here of hustling to the basketball and it results in a well-earned layup. The Badgers beat the Green Bay Phoenix 88-70 in a game where six Badgers scored in double figures. Reuvers led the group with 19 points, three rebounds and two assists. Trice finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Trice gets the steal and runs the length of the floor for the layup. Markus Howard played good defense trying to contest the shot but Trice got the better of him here. Howard had 18 points in the loss. The Badgers again had six players score in double figures including Trice’s 10 points and three steals in the 77-61 victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles.
Trice drribles to the right side of the court while Reuvers sets a hard screen on Indiana’s Al Durham. The screen opens up the passing lane for Kobe King to knock down a left corner three. The Badgers blew out the Hoosiers 84-64 behind Kobe King’s career-high 24 points. Reuvers finished with 20 points, four rebounds, two blocks and steals apiece. The badgers sweeped the Hoosiers this season.
Reuvers set a pick on Michigan’s David DeJulius and created a driving lane for Trice to get through enroute to a runner from point-blank range. Wisconsin beat the Michigan Wolverines 81-74 behind Trice’s 28 points and four assists.