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No magic in Motor City

Rob Schultz  —  3/29/2008 8:12 am

DETROIT — The locker-room bear hug Michael Flowers and Greg Stiemsma were locked in Friday night was more than just two seniors saying farewell to their college careers after an NCAA tournament game went awry.

Flowers was apologizing to Stiemsma, putting all the blame on himself for the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team's shocking 73-56 loss to Davidson in an East Regional semifinal game at cavernous Ford Field.

But Flowers was also thanking Stiemsma for having his back when he had to take a leave of absence early in the season and contemplated whether he wanted to return to the team.

"He's a great friend," Flowers said quietly after he led the Badgers with 12 points, but scored just one in the second half. "I leaned on him and he was there. He gave me his shoulder and I took it from somebody special out there for me who I'd do anything for on the court and off the court."

All the third-seeded Badgers (31-5) were saying goodbye to one of the most special seasons in program history, which was ended by sophomore gunner Stephen Curry and 10th-seeded Davidson (29-6).

The Badgers won Big Ten Conference regular-season and tournament titles and a school-record 31 games. They reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament for the third time in seven seasons under coach Bo Ryan. They astounded their fans and opponents by rewriting the book on how to win as a team.

The Badgers did it by having each others' back, off the court and on it, right up to the last game.

Unfortunately for the Badgers, their season was snuffed out by another team that also played an unselfish, team game all season and is continuing on as the darlings of the tournament.

"A lot of things we like to do, they did better," Wisconsin junior swingman Joe Krabbenhoft said. "That's why they won."

Even though Flowers didn't believe it, the loss went beyond Curry's 33-point blitzkrieg, which included making 6-of-11 3-pointers and helped Davidson shoot 49.1 percent overall (26-of-53), 50 percent from 3-point range (12-of-24) and average an astounding 1.35 points per possession (the benchmark of success is 1.0).

Curry now has 103 points in Davidson's three tournament games.

"I take full blame," said a disconsolate Flowers, who guarded Curry. "There are things I can't make up to my teammates. They are very deserving of playing another game. That burden I'm going to carry for the rest of my life is going to eat me up inside."

This loss was also delivered by point guard Jason Richards' unbelievable performance, which included 11 points, 13 assists and no turnovers. And it was delivered by role players like forward Andrew Lovedale, who finished with 12 points; sophomore guard Bryant Barr, who had six points on a pair of treys; and junior guard Max Paulhus Gosselin, who had six rebounds, including three on the offensive end.

"I thought they had a lot of contributions when they needed them," said UW coach Bo Ryan. "That's how you get to keep playing in the NCAA tournament. You have to have those things occur. If the other team's struggling a little bit, you get somebody's that hot, they play on."

The Badgers, who lost sophomore guard Trevon Hughes to injury midway through the first half, didn't just struggle a little bit in the second half after playing Davidson to a 36-36 halftime tie.

It was the closest thing to a meltdown they've faced this season as they were outscored 24-9 over the first 10 minutes. They finished the half making just 23.8 percent of their shots overall (5-of-21) and 16.7 percent of their 3s (1-of-6). They even shot poorly at the free throw line, making 60 percent (9-of-15).

All the problems that have haunted the Badgers in past losses occurred in the second half. They didn't touch the post on offense, they took bad shots that Davidson turned into easy buckets, they didn't rebound well and they didn't defend well.

"When we get away from what we do, that's when we suffer the bumps in the road. That's one of those things that happened," said senior forward Brian Butch, who scored just two of his 11 points in the second half.

Curry seemed to take advantage of every mistake made by the Badgers. After Krabbenhoft's 3 closed the Badgers to 46-43 with 14:57 left in the game, Curry banked in a mid-range jumper from a tough angle and then hit a 3 following a Marcus Landry score from the paint.

Then, after Krabbenhoft turned it over, Curry showed his taste for the jugular. In transition, he got the ball in the corner and saw Krabbenhoft coming hard to block it. He pump-faked Krabbenhoft into the air and, after the Badger defender blew by, calmly launched a 3 that hit nothing but net.

"It's always harder for a shooter to catch it, pump fake and then shoot it. But for him, nothing seems hard for him to get the ball in the rim," said Krabbenhoft.

"I don't know if that kid has any problems on the floor. I don't see one weakness in his game," he continued. "I thought if I ran by him, make him think about it, pump fake, take his time, he'd miss it. But nope, that kid just knocked it down."

Two more 3s — one by Richards and one by Curry — ended a 14-2 run and gave the Wildcats a 60-45 lead with 10:16 left. The bloodied Badgers never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.

"They changed the game, the tempo of the game," said junior guard Jason Bohannon, one of four Badgers in double figures with 11. "It was a close game and all of a sudden it was (15) points. When they have players like Curry and Richards on the floor, that's very tough to stop. When they are hitting 3s like that they are very tough to stop."

A few minutes after Curry's final barrage, the Badgers were reflecting on a season that was a success in every way imaginable.

Stiemsma said the Badgers never saw this coming.

"For some of the success we had, with some of the games we won, we just kind of felt it was meant to be," he said. "When you face an opponent like this that played that well and for us to not play well, that hurts."

Stiemsma said the Badgers won as a team and lost as a team. "We didn't do some things we've been doing well the last couple of weeks," he concluded. "As a team it didn't seem like we had it tonight, and they did. And they buried us."

BY THE NUMBERS

1.03: Wisconsin's points per possession

1.35: Davidson's points per possession

2: assists by the Badgers in the second half, when they made just 5-of-21 shots

9: highest-seeded team the Badgers have beaten in the NCAA tournament under coach Bo Ryan. UW has lost to teams with a worse seed each of the last two seasons.

12: games the Badgers had gone without surrendering 70 points before Davidson surpassed that mark Friday

12: 3-pointers by Davidson, the most by UW opponent this season

18: assists by Davidson on 26 baskets; 11 were produced by point guard Jason Richards

18-2: Davidson's edge in fast-break points

18-4: Davidson's edge in points off turnovers

22-18: Davidson's edge in points in the paint

33: points by Davidson sophomore Stephen Curry, the most by an individual player against Wisconsin this season

37: second-half points for Davison, the most surrendered in a half by Wisconsin since its most recent defeat, Feb. 9 to Purdue at Kohl Center. The Boilermakers scored 42 in the first half of that game.

49.1: Davidson's shooting percentage Friday.

96: Career blocks by Greg Stiemsma, who finishes fifth in school history. He had two blocks Friday.

1,115: career points for Brian Butch, including 11 in his final game for the Badgers. He finishes 24th on the all-time scoring list at Wisconsin.

Rob Schultz  —  3/29/2008 8:12 am