No. 16 Wisconsin looks to bounce back against Savannah State

Savannah State established some records that the Tigers would rather forget in their 139-72 road setback against South Dakota State on Tuesday.

The Tigers gave up 90 first-half points, 23 made 3-pointers, 53 made field goals and 87 field-goal attempts -- all single-game record highs for South Dakota State.

Things, hopefully, can only get better for Savannah State (3-8) when it plays No. 16 Wisconsin on Thursday in a Madison, Wis.

Savannah State, which moves to the NCAA Division II ranks next season, is all about shooting, whether the team is successful or not. The Tigers average 79.5 points per game, and had 79 field-goal attempts and 57 3-point attempts against the Jackrabbits.

Junior guard Jaquan Dotson, a community college transfer, paces the team in scoring and rebounding with 12.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Junior guard Zach Sellers averages 10.8 points.

Horace Broadnax has coached the Tigers for 14 seasons and said he's aware the team's up-tempo pace and frequent long-range shooting are unconventional.

"A lot of times the first shot available when we're pushing it is pretty much an open three," Broadnax told SBNation.com last month. "People have a tendency to run to the paint and then space out, as opposed to run out to the 3-point line; so we'll try to take the threes."

Meanwhile, the Badgers (8-2) aim to regroup following a 74-69 overtime loss to intrastate rival Marquette in Milwaukee on Saturday.

Senior forward Ethan Happ collected team highs with 34 points and 11 rebounds, but Wisconsin stumbled on many fronts. The 34-point effort was a career high for Happ, who earned Big Ten Conference player of the week honors on Monday.

"It doesn't matter about stats and individual stuff, whatever may be," Happ said after the loss. "There (is) plenty of stuff we'll see on clips, including me defensively, that we could've done better."

The Badgers were woeful from the charity stripe, hitting 10 of 21 from the free-throw line against the Golden Eagles.

Wisconsin typically shoots pretty well from beyond the arc, but was lacking in that facet at Marquette. The Badgers drained 5 of 24 attempts from 3-point range, including 1 of 12 attempts in the second half and overtime.

In 10 games, they've shot 38.9 percent from long range.

Redshirt sophomore guard D'Mitrik Trice shoots at a 55.4 percent clip from 3-point range for the season, but he was 1 of 6 in Milwaukee from long range. Trice only made 3 of 5 free throws in the game and finished with 10 points.

Though the Marquette loss was frustrating Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said that he isn't too concerned with the performance.

"We had some chances and did some uncharacteristic things that we have to get better at," Gard said "We have a chance to be a pretty good team. We're still a work in progress.

"The things that have prevented us or will catapult us to being a really good team -- as we go through nonconference and back into conference play -- are all controllable."

Home