Badgers 68, Raiders 41: Ben Brust And The Three-Point Attack

In the first two games of the 2011-2012 basketball season, the Wisconsin Badgers have made their plan quite clear: hit the three. The first half of Wednesday night’s game against the Colgate Raiders illustrated just how effective this plan can be.

The Badgers finished the first half 16-for-31 from the field, including a whopping 8-for-14 from the three-point line.  The Badgers efficiency in the half was an excellent 137.5 points per 100 possessions, just under the 145.6 mark posted against Kennesaw State in the opening game. As a result, the Badgers carried a 42-20 lead into halftime, and despite a few second-half hiccups, finished with a rather simple 68-41 victory to improve to 2-0 on the season.

The man of the hour was Ben Brust, who evoked memories of fellow Iowa recruit Jason Bohannon. Brust was unafraid to launch the three-ball from all areas of the court and at any time in the shot clock. In a typically methodical Badgers, Brust even made a transition three — a rarity in the swing offense, and a decision likely to earn a spot on the bench with a miss. But Brust didn’t miss often, sinking four three pointers and leading the team with 17 points, 13 coming in the first half.

It seems clear the three-point shot is going to be a key for the Badgers this year once again. After being one of the most three-averse programs from 2007-2008 as the offense was controlled by Alando Tucker and his inside game, Ryan has shifted his style to suit the talent at hand. In 2010, with gunners like Jordan Taylor, Keaton Nankivil, and Jon Leuer — all who made at least 50 three-point field goals — the Badgers took 41% of their shots from beyond the arc, a 10% increase over the 2008 squad.

Of the Badgers field goals in the opener against Kennesaw State, a whopping 49% were three-point baskets. That trend continued in the first half of Tuesday’s contest, as 14 of 31 of the Badgers’ shots, or 45.1%, where threes.

The Badgers began to look inside in the second half, but there simply wasn’t much to be had. The offense seemed to stagnate and the open jumpers from the first half just weren’t there. Jordan Taylor couldn’t drive to the basket, and he would finish 0-for-6 from inside the arc. Meanwhile, the three became a bit ineffective (3-for-9) as Jared Berggren (1-for-6 on the night) hoisted up multiple fruitless shots in an effort to heat up.

Wisconsin was still effective inside despite a lack of made shots (17-for-38 two-point field goals), largely due to an extremely effective game on the offensive glass. Led by three from Mike Bruesewitz (the team leader in offensive rebound rate at 8.6% in 2010-2011), the Badgers posted 13 offensive rebounds on 34 missed shots, a 38% rate.

The true story was, again, the defense, as Colgate struggled to find anything resembling an open shot all game. Point guard Mike Venizia, who scored 22 on 6-of-12 shooting in the Raiders’ opener against Binghamton, was limited to 2-of-9 shooting and only six points by Taylor and the tough Badgers’ defense.

The only truly effective player for Colgate was backup center John Brandenburg, who posted 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting in only 17 minutes of action. With Jared Berggren spending only short spurts on the court for much of the later action, Brandenburg often saw himself  matched up with freshman Frank Kaminsky, who didn’t have the easiest time defending the 6-11 junior Raider.

The rest of the Raiders were completely shut down, shooting 11-for-41 (26.8%). When the Raiders weren’t shooting, they were committing turnovers, giving the ball away 13 times in 61 possessions (21.3%). The combination of poor shooting and poor ball control is a harbinger of doom in any scenario, and as a result the Badgers posted an impressive defensive efficiency of 67 points per 100 possessions.

Despite the offensive problems in the second half — as can happen with both high-volume three-point teams and young teams — the Badgers still controlled the game. The hallmark Badger traits of ball security (five turnovers, 8.1% of possessions) and great rebounding allowed Wisconsin to dictate the game, as should be the case in the early non-conference schedule. More important was the emergence of Ben Brust. If he can keep his stroke against top-level teams, his presence as a gunner off the bench will be invaluable.