The Matchup: Wisconsin vs. Wisconsin-River Falls
When: Nov. 4, 2015; 7p.m. CT
Where: Madison, WI; Kohl Center (17,279)
TV: BTN Plus
Radio: Badger Sports Radio
Last Meeting: Nov. 5, 2005 — Wisconsin W 79-52
All-Time Series: Wisconsin leads 1-0 (exhibition only)
Wisconsin’s Projected Starting Lineup:
G: Bronson Koening — Jr.
G: Zak Showalter — Jr.
F: Charlie Thomas — RS Fr.
F: Nigel Hayes — Jr.
F: Ethan Haap — RS Fr.
Player to Know from River Falls:
Jon Christensen — The 6-6 senior was the Falcons leading scorer last season, averaging 12.9 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game as well. He is a nice combo player on the wing, shooting a respectable 37.8 percent from deep and nearly 50 percent from the field overall. Christensen should give players like Charlie Thomas and Khalil Iverson some nice work leading in to the non-conference season.
What to Watch For:
— Chemistry: With just two returning starters and a ton of inexperience in the Badgers front court rotation, the main thing to watch for in the lone exhibition game of the year is which group of players has the best chemistry. No doubt individual talent matters, but basketball is far from an individual sport. With so many new faces in the mix, Wisconsin has to find the group of starters and bench players that give them the right mix to win big games all year long.
— Ethan Haap: If you’ve been busy paying all your attention to the football team, you’ve already missed the hype train for redshirt freshman Ethan Haap. Players and coaches have been raving about his play in practice for a year now, but they believe he’s stepped his game up to an even higher level after redshirting last season. With Frank Kaminsky gone, Haap has to hold things down in the post and be a player Wisconsin can go to on the offensive end for this whole season to be a success. Let’s see if the hype is real when the ball goes up on a game that will matter towards the starting lineup come next week.
— Welcome Freshmen: Wisconsin has no shortage of freshmen to break in, but it appears that a trio of them are likely to be immediate contributors. All are frontcourt players as well, in wing Khalil Iverson, forward Charlie Thomas and the 6-10 Belgian Andy Van Vliet. The trio bring different skill sets, but they are all things that are needed by this team in 2015-16.
Iverson has some of the ability to get things done off the dribble that Sam Dekker did, while Thomas has the defensive stopper down pat and Van Vliet appears likely to replace the ability of Kaminsky to step outside and hit the deep ball (he just doesn’t have the inside game and shouldn’t as that isn’t what he is built to do).
Let’s see what those three can do in particular, but we may also see some of Alex Illikainen as well. Shooting guard Brevin Pritzl isn’t likely to see action as he is still on his way back from a broken foot suffered while walking to a workout back in August.
Prediction: Wisconsin 90, UW-River Falls 45
If the Red-White scrimmage was any indication, look for this Badgers team to be much more of the old-school variety in terms of its play on the defensive end. That will translate in to domination on that end of the court. However, don’t sleep on the offensive abilities of the youngsters to make an impact. Even if the Badgers get the starters out of the way early in this game, look for the second group to display what it didn’t last week — offensive touch. In that case this game could be a massive blowout.
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