Five Badgers scored in double digits and two recorded double-doubles in Wisconsin’s 86-40 win over Nebraska-Omaha (2-8 overall) Tuesday night.
Sophomore guard Ben Brust recorded his fourth double-double of the season, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The Hawthorn Woods, Ill., native shot 4-of-8 from downtown and also chipped in three steals.
Redshirt senior forward Ryan Evans notched his second double-double of the season (10 points, 11 rebounds).
While two Badger starters especially filled the stat box, Wisconsin (6-3) also got solid contributions from its reserves.
Freshman forward Sam Dekker continued his strong play, coming off the bench first for the Badgers en route to 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. While the Sheboygan, Wis., native had not come off the bench until arriving in Madison, he said watching the game for a few minutes before coming in allows him to get a feel for that particular game.
“You can see what our team needs, where they need that spark,” Dekker said. “Usually it’s a different thing every day, but overall I just want to bring energy. Today we had a little slow start offensively, and I came in and tried to get some offensive boards.
“Those are just things that I can do for our team to help us win.”
Despite Dekker’s early offensive success, however, he said he has to improve his performance on the defensive end.
“[Defense] is something I gotta get a lot better at, something that I beat myself up about because I want to be a good defender for this team,” Dekker said. “But there’s times where I feel like I’m letting the guys down and myself down.”
Redshirt senior forward Jared Berggren said although the Badgers have improved defensively—specifically with their help defense—there is room for improvement.
“If a big guy steps up to help, the guards are wrapping back in and deflecting passes, sticking their nose in there, being aggressive,” Berggren said. “We’ve definitely made some strides.”
Berggren saw fewer minutes (22) Tuesday than in the past five games, perhaps in part because of the play from sophomore forward Frank Kaminsky.
The Lisle, Ill., native, who played fewer than 10 minutes in each of the last four games, scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 14 minutes of action Tuesday. Head coach Bo Ryan said he thought Kaminsky played with more energy than he had in recent games.
“I study my players quite a bit, and I can tell,” Ryan said. “A player always feels they’re ready to go, but coaches have this gut feeling about things, and I just felt he wasn’t quite ready to get the kind of minutes that hopefully he can contribute down the road here. But he definitely looked more comfortable today.”
In addition to Dekker and Kaminsky, freshman guard Zak Showalter contributed seven points and three rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench.
The Badgers will face a tougher test Saturday when they travel to Milwaukee to face in-state rival Marquette.
Just before the under 16 media timeout, Brust led a three-on-one break with Dekker and Jackson. The junior looked at Jackson and bounced a no-look pass to Dekker, who threw it down.
“You know what’s coming on Saturday,” Brust said.
