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Wisconsin Basketball: Badgers hold on to beat Rhode Island

By Christian Borman

Dec 9, 2020; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard D'Mitrik Trice (0) dribbles the ball as Rhode Island Rams guard Fatts Russell (1) defends at the Kohl Center. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 9, 2020; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard D'Mitrik Trice (0) dribbles the ball as Rhode Island Rams guard Fatts Russell (1) defends at the Kohl Center. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports /
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Wisconsin basketball is back in the win column after defeating the Rhode Island Rams.

The Wisconsin basketball team was supposed to take on the #25 Louisville Cardinals as a part of the ACC/B1G Challenge, but the game had to be postponed with the Cardinals having issues with rising covid numbers within the program. The game has been ‘postponed’ rather than canceled, so there is still some hope that the game will be played, although Badgers head coach Greg Gard still didn’t know when that game would be played.

Wisconsin was quickly able to replace the game with the Rhode Island Rams. In a game dominated by whistles, the Wisconsin basketball team knocked off the visiting Rhode Island Rams and picked up their fourth win of the season.

Brad Davison started out hot for the Badgers, scoring nine of the Badger’s first ten points on three straight three-pointers. He finished the game with 23 points, which was the most for any player on either team. Micah Potter was the next highest scorer for the Badgers with 13 points.

Leading the way for the Rams was Jeremy Sheppard, who had 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. A big reason Wisconsin won this game was keeping the Ram’s leading scorer, Fatts Russell, in check. He scored just eight points on 3-of-14 shooting, including 0-4 from three. He came into this game averaging 17.6 points per game.

The Badgers got up by as much as 22 points and led by a score of 33-16 at halftime. The second half was a different story. The Rams brought the game back to within eight points, but then the Badgers pulled away at the end of the game, hitting a lot of free throws.

Speaking of which, the ref’s whistles were extremely active and a big part of the game tonight. There were a total of 48 fouls called and 4 technicals (all on Rhode Island). The Badgers shot 36 free throws while the Rams shot 25. The second half was extremely slow because of the continual stoppage in play. Finally, the Badgers were able to put the Rams away and win 73-62.

Rhode Island is a quality opponent that will likely be NCAA Tournament-bound come March. While the Badgers missed out on a game with Louisville (which will hopefully be made up), it’s impressive that they were still able to schedule an opponent that will be nice to add to the resume for the selection committee to consider.

This was a good game for the Badgers to play and win. The Badgers will (maybe) take on Louisville this Sunday before playing Northern Iowa next Wednesday in their final non-conference game of the season.

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