The Wisconsin Badgers are off to a hot start on the season with a nearly 30-point thrubbing of Campbell in the season opener. The Badgers beat the Camels 96-64, and if you only looked at the box score after the game, you'd think it was a pretty impressive night from Wisconsin. However, that doesn't tell the whole story. With only seven minutes to go, the Badgers were only up a handful of points. It was then that they finally stopped playing with their food and went on a 29-2 run.
Greg Gard was frustrated at times with both the offense and the defense of his newly built Badgers team. There were times when they would explode and really show the team chemistry and firepower, while at other times, it was lacking and borderline embarrassing.
Greg Gard calls the Badgers extremely good but a team still working out the kinks
Gard after the game referred to it as a team that likes to have water in their gas tank. Here's what he said:
"We have at times we have water in our gas tank, meaning we sputter and then we catch fire and then we sputter. And that's both ends of the court. You know, we really show some good things defensively, and then we don't. And the same thing offensively, but just I think how we closed the game was I saw more consistency. "Greg Gard
Related: Wisconsin basketball won the season opener but the boxscore reveals a major problem
The Badgers have one of the most electric starting fives in all of basketball. It's a team that can explode on the offensive end of the floor. It's also a long team and can create havoc in the passing lanes. The problem is that three of the five starters are new to Badger basketball, and four of the five major depth pieces are also new.
That's a lot of newness, and Greg Gard is hoping the chemistry continues to improve as the season goes along and the team gels together.
The next game is against Northern Illinois on Friday, which is an opponent ranked even lower in the NET than Campbell, a good opportunity for the Badgers to put the pedal down early and never let up, if the chemistry can be solidified.