Wisconsin finally kicks off its regular season Sunday against Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne at home. The Badgers played in the annual red-white scrimmage and two exhibition games, and will now play when it counts.
It was a smooth preseason for Wisconsin, who went untested in its two contests against lower-division opponents. The Badgers coasted to exhibition victories against Division II Bemidji State (90-54) and Division III UW-Superior (80-47).
Playing those lower-division squads brought out plenty of positives for the Badgers, such as ball movement, well-executed fast breaks, solid low-post play and solid defense.
One glaring weakness in the two preseason games, however, was the outside shooting efficiency of Wisconsin. In the two contests, the Badgers converted only 8-of-39 three-point field goal attempts, good for 21 percent.
Senior guard Jason Bohannon, the Badgers' best long-range threat during years past turned in a solid 3-for-6 effort from behind the arc against Bemidji State but went only 2-of-8 against Superior. Junior forward Tim Jarmusz combined for 0-for-6 behind the three-point line in the two games, and senior guard Trevon Hughes went 0-for-4.
The issue is a troubling one, but it should not hold the Badgers back from controlling the game against the Mastodons.
Fort Wayne, out of the Summit League, finished last season 13-17 overall, and 8-10 in the conference, good for sixth place. The Mastodons fell to Oakland in their opening game of the 2009 Summit League Tournament to end their season last year, and are projected to finished sixth in the league once again this season.
Senior forward Deilvez Yearby is the Mastodons' greatest returning scoring threat. After transferring from Kansas State, Yearby came off the bench his first season with Fort Wayne and averaged 9.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, earning him the Summit League's Sixth Man of the Year Award. Yearby was named to the Second Team of the Preseason All-League Team.
The two teams met last in 2007, a game in which the Badgers comfortably won 83-55.
Head coach Bo Ryan will use that game, as well as Wednesday's game against Superior, to prepare for Sunday's contest.
""When we played Fort Wayne two years ago they were a little smaller than us, and they did a lot of things that gave us some problems,"" Ryan said Wednesday after defeating Superior. ""So hopefully [Wednesday's] action will help us for Sunday.""
