Badgers basketball closes out non-conference play by blowing out FAMU

The Wisconsin Badgers may have had a lengthly break before its matchup with Florida A&M, but you wouldn’t have guessed it by the performance of Greg Gard’s bunch on Friday night. UW didn’t miss a beat in clobbering the Rattlers 90-37 in the non-conference finale.

No one played more than Bronson Koenig’s 22 minutes, but it was freshman point guard D’Mitrick Trice who would lead the scoring for UW with 14 points on the night. He was joined in double figures by Vitto Brown and Charlie Thomas, who had 11 points each.

This game was really never in doubt, with UW leading by 21 (43-22) at the half. But, that didn’t stop Wisconsin from pouring it on in the second half either. Despite the bench seeing the floor for the majority of the second half, UW didn’t let up.

Instead, the Badgers held FAMU to just 15 points in the second half while pouring in 47 points of their own. UW’s biggest advantage came in the paint, outscoring the Rattlers 40-8 down low on the night.

Perhaps the most telling part of this game comes from sharp-shooting bench players Brevin Pritzl and Andy Van Vliet. The duo combined to go 5 of 8 on the night for 15 points in their most extensive action of the season.

Observations:

• The biggest take away from this mismatch easily had to be the killer instinct everyone on this team demonstrated. Rather that ease their way home in the second half, UW put their foot on FAMU’s throat. After shooting a respectable 46.9 percent from the field in the first half, Wisconsin upped the ante with a 57.6 percent effort from the field in the second half. That happened with most of the starters getting plenty of rest in the final 20 minutes of action.
• More good news came in the performance of this team from deep in the second half. UW was 7 of 11 from three-point land in the half, led by the obvious effort mentioned before from Pritzl and Van Vliet.
• You know you’re having a dominant night when the team has more rebounds (53) than points allowed (37). Heck, FAMU only managed to take 54 shots to UW’s 53 rebounds for cryin’ out loud.

Up Next:

Wisconsin opens up Big Ten play as hosts to Rutgers on Dec. 27 at 6p.m. CT.