Wisconsin Basketball Opens Preseason in New Zealand

Wisconsin Basketball started its 2017 preseason with an exhibition in New Zealand

Wisconsin Basketball defeated the New Zealand Breakers 85-75 in Auckland, New Zealand on Tuesday August 15th.  The wins and losses on this 12-day trip to Australia and New Zealand are immaterial.

What does matter is discovering anything new for Wisconsin Basketball in advance of the 2017-18 season.  I’ll caution myself here to not overanalyze or overreact to individual performances to draw sweeping conclusions about the season.

But it’s clear that Brevin Pritzl is well on his way to the Naismaith Award.  Not really, but it was a welcome result for the 6’3″ redshirt sophomore from De Pere, Wisconsin.

More from Badger of Honor

• Wisconsin Football flips 3-star defensive tackle from Northwestern
• Former Wisconsin Football stars to be featured on the next Wheaties box
• Believe it or not, Wisconsin Football has never played these FBS teams
• Four-star running back Darrion Dupree commits to Wisconsin Football
• Wisconsin Football wide receiver enters the transfer portal

Pritzl had a “team-high 28 points” while sinking 7-9 three point attempts.  The UW Athletic Department write-up indicated Pritzl knocked down shots in different offensive flows.

"In front of fellow sharp-shooter and UW Hall of Famer Kirk Penney, Pritzl kept the Breakers off balance all night, hitting triples in the half court set, off double teams and even in transition."

It’s one scrimmage in New Zealand, but still good to see Pritzl display some outside shooting.  Wisconsin loses five of its top six three point shooters from last season.  Pritzl made just five of his 21 three point field goal attempts.  So he made more triples (7) in the New Zealand exhibition than all of the 2016-17 season.

Ethan Happ did his typical work posting a 17-11 line along with three assists and four steals.  Most importantly, he made all three of his FT attempts.  The good news is it could signal refined shooting mechanics makes him more comfortable at the line.  The bad news is his FT shooting percentage will go down.

The team shot 15-18 from the foul line.  Freshman Brad Davison was 6-7 from the FT line and chipped in 13 points.  We’ll continue to keep an eye on the freshman as the new faces will have opportunities to contribute this season.

Next: Wisconsin Badger Gift Guide

Wisconsin will play a rematch with the Breakers on Thursday August 17th at 1:30 a.m. CST.