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TCT NCAA tournament game blog: Davidson 73, Wisconsin 56 (final)

Adam Hoge  —  3/28/2008 7:45 pm

THE RUN IS OVER

Davidson 73, Wisconsin 56 - Final

Well, it's over. Seeing Tanner Bronson go in the game was not a good thing tonight.

I don't think Davidson is the better team, but tonight they certainly were. And overall, the Wildcats are one of the better teams UW has seen all year. This team would hold its own in the Big Ten.

As far as Curry goes, he's got my vote for player of the year (if I had a vote). Everyone knows he can score (33 points tonight), but he looked like a pretty good defender tonight and he can pass the ball too.

You want the stat of the night? Curry outscored Wisconsin 22-20 in the second half. Pretty remarkable.

Thanks for following along with me on the blog this season. Wish we could have extended the run onto San Antonio, but considering what Ryan had coming into the season, it was a great year.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Davidson 69, Wisconsin 51 - 3:49

Talk about a stalled offense. Since I last posted over four minutes ago Wisconsin only has three points--not exactly what you need when you are down by as many points as the Badgers are.

It's safe to say that the team is missing Trevon Hughes. The sophomore came in briefly in the second half, but that is it. UW could use his defense and right now they could use anything on offense. Tonight is a far cry from last Saturday when Wisconsin got 25 points from Hughes.

SLIPPING AWAY

Davidson 65, Wisconsin 48 - 7:57, 2nd half

The Wildcats have opened up their biggest lead of the game after what could be another three point possession. They are in the midst of a 17-3 run in which Curry has scored 12. He had an amazing layup that I'm sure will be all over CBS' coverage for the rest of the tournament.

It's not looking good Badgers fans.

CURRY CAN'T MISS

Davidson 54, Wisconsin 45 - 13:01, 2nd half

This kid is unbelievable. Landry cut the deficit to three with a shot in the paint but Curry hit two threes just seconds apart.

The second one came off a UW turnover where it was 2-on-2 but Bohannon went to protect the rim leaving Curry wide open. The sophomore now has 23 points, hitting five threes.

ROUGH START TO 2ND HALF

Davidson 44, Wisconsin 38 - 15:57, 2nd half

The Badgers turned the ball over on their first two posessions of the second half. Then Butch missed a shot and failed to get back on defense, fouling the guy as he made the layup.

Needless to say, Butch is on the bench.

Hughes is back in the game, which is good because Davidson is pressing.

Wisconsin already has five second half fouls after only two in the first half. Landry and Krabbenhoft each have two.

Add another UW turnover and another UW foul to the above information. Wisconsin has been out scored 8-2 to start the second half. Six fouls in four minutes? For these Badgers? Amazing.

HALFTIME STATS

Other than the barage of threes, Wisconsin is playing its game. The Badgers only had five turnovers and two fouls in the first half, but 17 of their 25 field goal attempts were threes. They hit seven of them, which means UW is also 5-of-8 from inside the arc. I would look for UW too go inside more often this half.

Probably the biggest problem in the first half was UW failing to get back on defense, which is a huge surprise. I counted at least eight Davidson points that came in situations where the Badgers failed to get back. The Cats had 11 fast break points.

Meanwhile, UW is dominating on the glass holding a 17-7 rebounding edge. The Badgers have 15 second chance points.

Hughes will not be starting the second half, but he is still dressed so he could play. I wouldn't hold out any hope, though. Remember, however, that Wisconsin is 2-0 this season when Hughes is out. They beat Texas on the road when he missed the entire game and they erased a 12-point second half deficit against Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament when Hughes left the game with an ankle injury.

No word yet on who LeBron is rooting for.

HALFTIME

UW 36, Davidson 36 - Halftime

Wisconsin was holding the ball for shot near the end of the half and Brian Butch's attempt went up right as the shot clock expired. It was not the best attempt, but he was fouled and made 1-of-2 from the line to tie the game.

And because this is a huge game, we have been on the lookout for celebs and the first one I have spotted is LeBron James who is sitting right behind press row.

GAME OF RUNS

UW 33, Davidson 33 - 2:43, 1st half

Davidson went on a 8-0 run after the last timeout, but Wisconsin countered with a 5-0 run that included another Flowers 3-pointer and Joe Krabbenhoft layup.

The Badgers are shooting a ton of threes so far (7-of-15) and have hardly touched the post. That is very surprising because of UW's height advantage, but it's not like Wisconsin isn't scoring. Meanwhile Davidson is continuing to prove its shooting ability as it is 7-of-11 from beyond the arc.

Stephen Curry is everything that was advertised. I think he has the best pure shooting stroke I have ever seen in college basketball and that includes J.J. Reddick.

HUGHES COULD BE DONE

UW 28, Davidson 25 - 6:02, 1st half

I wish I had some good news on Trevon Hughes, but I don't. There has not been an official word but Hughes is limping badly and he struggled to get back on the court during this current timeout. I would be surprised to see him play again this half and he could be out for the entire game. Of course I said that before the Big Ten Tournament Championship game too and he played.

As far as the game goes, it is starting to resemble an NBA game. Both teams are hitting threes like crazy. Flowers and Bohannon both have two threes and eight points while Curry has 11 points and three 3-pointers for Davidson. There's another one for Richards. Tie game.

WILDCATS USE THREES TO STAY ON TOP

Davidson 13, UW 10 - 11:56, 1st half

Nine of Davidson's 13 points have come from behind the arc and Curry has two of them. Jason Richards, the senior point guard who is having a pretty good tournament, has the other three.

Hughes tweaked his ankle for the 1,768 time this season and is getting it re-taped.

And Bo Ryan has set the all-time record for substitutions in the first eight minutes of a game. Just kidding, but if they kept track of that I wonder if he is getting close... oh, there's another one.

UNIQUE ATMOSPHERE

Davidson 7, UW 5 - 15:34, 1st half

First off, sorry for the late start. The NCAA has rules on blogging which limit me to five posts per half so keep that in mind tonight.

This is truely a weird place to watch a basketball game. The stadium is huge and the court is so far away from most of the seats. I took a jaunt up to the upper deck and I actually think those seats are better than some of the 100 level seats because the height gives them a better angle at the court.

As far as the game goes, UW has not started particularly hot and they already have a few turnovers. Butch hit a three to give Wisconsin a 5-2 lead but Stephen Curry came back and hit one just seconds later to tie it up and then a turnover led to a Wildcat layup.

Adam Hoge  —  3/28/2008 7:45 pm