Beyond the Box Score: Wisconsin 48, Virginia 38

(Photo courtesy Geoff Burke: USA Today)

It wasn’t pretty, but the Badgers gutted out a win against a very good Virginia team last night. Good teams find ways to win when they aren’t playing at their highest level and what last night’s game showed me is that Wisconsin can win in a variety of ways.

They’ve won both high and low scoring games this year, which is a good sign for things to come. Let’s get onto the box score for the 9-0 Wisconsin Badgers.

First the good.

• Frank Kaminsky with 12 rebounds. Kaminsky has played great this year after getting off to a slow start. This helped cement the idea that he’s the real deal. Sure he only shot 4-11, but he wasn’t the only one.
• The team had seven assists and seven turnovers. That’s a great ratio to have, and while Jackson couldn’t shoot, he did have four assists. With the longer leash he is getting than most Badgers in the past, we’re going to have to take the bad with the good.
• Thirteen second chance points for the Badgers compared to only four for the Cavaliers. This can be attributed to the 12 offensive rebounds the Badgers collected. In games where shooting is an issue, the difference between winning and losing can come down to hustle. All eight guys in the rotation are willing to work hard and get dirty baskets.
• Joe Harris only had two points on 1-10 shooting. I don’t mean to bury this as it was a huge reason the Badgers won. Harris, who received votes for the AP Preseason All-America Team, was averaging 12 points a game heading into the contest. If he hits his average, it’s a completely different game.

As for the bad…

• Wisconsin shooting (minus Josh Gasser). Sam Dekker was 1-8, Traevon Jackson was 3-13, Ben Brust was 3-9. Even Kaminsky, who had a nice game, only shot 4-11. A lot of this can be contributed to the suffocating defense played by Virginia, but still, some of the shots missed were uncontested. We’re lucky it’s just an outlier.

Job one of the week is complete. Let’s keep it going on Saturday against a reeling Marquette team.