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Lucas: Same as last week, it comes down to guard play

Mike Lucas  —  3/29/2008 8:22 am

DETROIT — With the Davidson College anthem ("Sweet Caroline") playing in the background, a sullen Trevon Hughes and a dejected Michael Flowers walked off the floor at Ford Field, the last two University of Wisconsin basketball players to make their exit here Friday night. Hughes was a non-factor before and after injuring his right foot, while Flowers found little consolation in holding the NCAA tournament's top gun, Stephen Curry, to a first half draw (11 points apiece), especially since Curry erupted for 22 second-half points in the Wildcats' convincing, 73-56 victory.

The Badgers picked a bad time to let their guard down. Or more to the point, they didn't have the better guards. In this case (read: Nike television jingle), their better (Curry and Jason Richards) was better than their better (Hughes and Flowers). Much better. Curry and Richards combined for 44 points, 17 assists and only two turnovers. Hughes had nothing to show for his 12 minutes (0-for-3), Flowers had almost nothing to show for his second half (0-for-6). What a difference a week makes. In Wisconsin's second-round win over Kansas State, the UW backcourt duo outscored their counterparts 40-4 (Hughes had 25 points and Flowers had 15).

Hughes looked a bit overwhelmed from the very beginning against Davidson, which checked him on the first few possessions with 6-foot-6 Max Paulhus Gosselin, the team's defensive stopper. Offensively, Hughes can run hot or cold, depending on his start and first make or miss. He missed. And he was missed after injuring his right foot while splitting a double-team. Hughes stumbled and fell at the top of the key and came up clutching his right foot at the 12:41 mark of the first half. After Richards drained a 3-point field goal at the other end with Hughes limping and offering little or no resistance after getting hung up on a screen, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan removed Hughes from the game. He wound up playing just four minutes in the second half.

"What I'm thinking is," Ryan said afterward, "if somebody for us hits a few shots, and I just thought that Hughes coming off the game he played against Kansas State, and the way he practiced and the way he has been playing (might have been that somebody) — you know it wouldn't have been a bad thing to have a penetrator, a guy that can take care of it (the ball). And, unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to contribute. I tried him in the second half a little bit. He just couldn't go."

That forced Flowers to play all 40 minutes, and whereas Ryan has been able to give Flowers a breather from time to time by putting Hughes on the opponent's top scorer, he didn't have that option Friday. Not that Hughes would have single-handedly made a difference in the outcome. But he would have definitely affected it, whether he was driving and dishing or just giving the Badgers another physical defensive presence. Davidson scored 18 points in transition. "I thought our defense created opportunities for us to get into the open court," said Wildcats coach Bob McKillop. "And the open court created opportunities for Steph Curry to get some good looks at the basket and for Jason Richards to deliver the ball to him."

Ryan was impressed. "We said he was the best point guard that we'd face and he was," he said of Richards. "It's not always about the points, it's about what he delivers, and he delivers." Without Hughes to check Richards, the Badgers literally ran into trouble. "Coach (McKillop) gives me an opportunity to get in the cracks, find other guys, and pick my spots where I can score," Richards said. "I mean, that's the type of game we play at Davidson. We get up and down with the fast break and find shooters on the wings."

The Wildcats were not only hot from the perimeter — their 12 triples was the most that Wisconsin has given up this season — but their perimeter defense choked off the Badgers on the offensive end. "We like to pressure the ball," Richards said. "We take pride from our defense, like Wisconsin. I thought Max (Paulhus Gosselin) created havoc in the front court." Added Curry, "If we can get the ball out of the guards' hands and our big guys pressure the ball, that causes chaos, too. We have guys like Andrew Lovedale, who's just an animal."

McKillop used some full-court and three-quarter court pressure to control the tempo and disrupt the UW offense. "By trapping the second guard," McKillop explained, "it forced (Marcus) Landry to bring the ball up the court. And now, maybe if Landry gets tempted to drive it all the way to the basket, all of a sudden, the rhythm of their offense is broken." As it was in the second half when the Badgers shot 24 percent and managed just five baskets.

What a difference a week makes. Kansas State didn't score in transition, largely because the Wildcats went 0-for-13 from 3-point range. But these Wildcats, the Davidson Wildcats, got more shots and made them, keeping their improbable dream alive at the expense of the Big Ten champ.

mlucas@madison.com

Mike Lucas  —  3/29/2008 8:22 am