The Wisconsin men's basketball team tipped off its 2009-'10 campaign Wednesday night with a slam dunk, running over Bemidji State on its way to a 90-54 win.
On the Badgers' first possession, senior guard Jason Bohannon hit junior forward Jon Leuer with a pass to the post, and Leuer welcomed the Beavers to the Kohl Center with a slam.
""We worked really hard throughout spring and in the summer playing our pickup games to get in the lane and finish strong towards the hoop,"" Bohannon said. ""I drove the lane line and kind of got stuck there. Jon [Leuer] made a good cut towards the basket and got open.And rather than just lay it in or try to draw the foul, he went up and dunked it strong. That's a big play right there to show how much more physical he's gotten.""
The assist from Bohannon was the beginning to a quick start for him and the Badgers. On the next possession, he drained his first three of the season after hitting 64 last season. Bohannon played a team-high 25 minutes and finished the night with 14 points, six assists and four rebounds.
Bemidji State, a Division II team from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, hit a few shots early, but was overmatched by the size of Wisconsin. The Badgers scored 26 first-half points in the paint and held Bemidji State to only eight. At halftime. the game was already out of reach as Wisconsin built up a 46-22 lead.
Head coach Bo Ryan had an opportunity to debut many of his young players thanks to the big lead. Redshirt freshman Ryan Evans was impressive in his first action as a Badger, and coach Ryan noticed.
""It's so nice to look at a guy like Ryan [Evans], who never asked how many minutes he's going to get, never said ‘Are you going to start me,'"" Ryan said. ""All Ryan Evans ever said was, ‘Man, I'd love a chance to play at Wisconsin, I think I can do it.' So he's trying to prove that.""
Evans, who calls himself a late bloomer, scored 12 points in 12 minutes of play, including two dunks that shot excitement into the crowd. He stood out on the defensive side of the ball as well, racking up five blocks.
Badger fans also got their first look at redshirt freshman Jared Berggren and true freshman Mike Bruesewitz. Berggren let his presence be felt in the paint, scoring seven points, most of them following his five offensive rebounds.
Bruesewitz, who won Minnesota's Gatorade and AP Player of the Year last year, plays with a similar style player as former Badger Joe Krabbenhoft. He finished with four points and two rebounds in limited action.
Overall, Bo Ryan had the right to be pleased with the production of his young players.
""They didn't go out there and try to beat the world,"" he said. ""They went out there to try to be a good help defensive player, to play the ball hard, to offensively move the ball, make good hard cuts, and that's all we've ever asked of our guys.""
Wisconsin put its game on cruise control in the second half until the final buzzer sounded. All 15 of the Badgers got some game action, and the game proved to be a good first showing for this year's team, but experienced players like Bohannon were aware of the mistakes.
""We did some good things out there tonight, but there's a lot of things we can improve on,"" Bohannon said. ""I think there were some instances where we went on a little turnover spree or something like that, and we can definitely fix that, especially going into Big Ten play.""
