Wisconsin basketball: Milwaukee recap

While everyone no doubt turned into Saturday afternoon’s Wisconsin Badgers basketball game to see the delayed season debut of Micah Potter in cardinal and white it was two of his teammates who ended up stealing the show.

D’Mitrik Trice had 31 points and Nate Reuvers had 22 points to lead the Badgers (6-5 overall, 1-1 B1G) in their 83-64 victory against the Milwaukee Panthers (5-7 overall) at the Kohl Center in Madison. Both of those point totals were career highs for Trice and Reuvers (although his 22 tied his career high).

Potter, who obviously still has some rust to shake off, looked promising in his debut. He had 12 points, five boards and a block while helping to stabilize a bench unit that has often found themselves shorthanded this season.

The rest of the Badgers struggled to find their offensive groove on Saturday as Kobe King was held scoreless on only three shot attempts and Brad Davison didn’t offer much scoring-wise (three points, all on free throws) although he did distribute five assists and add four boards. Aleem Ford was able to add a pair of three pointers to help shoulder the scoring load.

Milwaukee’s Darius Roy led the Panthers with 25 points but only Te’jon Lucas joined him in double figures (10 points) as Milwaukee shot 42.3% from the field. They shot a blistering 47.1% from distance but only made 12-of-19 free throws. The Badgers, on the other hand, made 21-of-26 from the charity stripe and were no slouches from deep, shooting 45.5% (10-of-22).

The Badgers also controlled the glass on Saturday, out-rebounding Milwaukee 36-to-27. Potter, Tyler Wahl and Trice all had five rebounds to lead the team and Davison, Ford and Reuvers each had four. A balanced rebounding attack if ever I saw one.

It truly was a Christmas present to see the Badgers win a game comfortably for the first time in a few weeks. Even Santa was impressed!

Notable stat lines:

• Kobe King —> 0 points (0-of-3 from the floor), three rebounds, one assists
• D’Mitrik Trice —> 31 points (11-of-14 from the floor, 5-of-6 from deep), five rebounds, three assists
• Nate Reuvers —> 22 points (8-of-12 from the floor), four rebounds, three blocks
• Darius Roy (Milwaukee) —> 25 points (7-of-13 from the floor), four rebounds

The Badgers are off until next weekend when they travel to Knoxville to play Tennessee.