MADISON —What a start to the 2018–19 season for preseason All-American Ethan Happ, as the redshirt senior recorded a triple-double during the Wisconsin Badgers’ 85–63 win over the Coppin State Eagles on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.
Happ recorded 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists to go along with four blocks on the evening for Wisconsin (1–0). The point-forward is the second Badger to record a triple-double in school history for the men’s basketball program, with former guard Josh Gasser the first to do so in 2011.
- !@EthanHapp22 becomes just the second Badger in program history to record a triple-double and the first since Josh Gasser in 2011!#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/1yKx3Xo0SR
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) November 7, 2018
For the most part, Coppin State (0–1) contained Happ scoring-wise, forcing other Badgers to make them pay.
Redshirt sophomore guard D’Mitrik Trice scored a career-high and game-high 21 points after shooting 7-of-13 from the field and 5-of-9 from three-point range. Seventeen of those 21 points came in the first half where Wisconsin ran out to a 49–27 halftime lead, as the guard connected on five of six of those three-point attempts.
Another hot hand for Wisconsin, redshirt senior guard Brevin Pritzl, recorded 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting, all from behind the three-point arc.
As a whole, Wisconsin shot 25-of-61 (41 percent) from the field, 12-of-32 (37.5 percent) from three-point range. However, the Badgers rode a wave of hot shooting in the first 20 minutes of the game, connecting on 14 of 28 (50 percent) of their field goals.
After a Nigel Marshall jumper brought the UW lead down to one, Wisconsin rode a 31–5 run from 13:37 to 3:13 in the first half to make it a 45–18 game.
Happ only registered four points in the first half, but grabbed eight rebounds and dished out seven assists. He knocked down his seventh and eighth points of the game with 14:13 remaining, with fans starting to cheer every time he held the ball.
To get to 10 and hit that triple-double, Happ had to knock down two free throws. With 6:32 remaining, he did just that, then exited the floor for the rest of the game.
Coppin State shot only 35.6 percent from the field (21 of 59), only 37.9 percent (11 of 29) from three-point range. Lamar Morgan scored a team-high 15 points with three rebounds for the Eagles.
Next Tuesday, Wisconsin travels to Cincinnati to take on Xavier in the Gavitt Games.