The sport of basketball, some say, is a lot like music—it’s all about finding a rhythm.
After a sloppy start at the Kohl Center Tuesday night the Badgers danced to their own beat, getting 16 points from sophomore forward Sam Dekker and 13 from junior guard Traevon Jackson in a 59-53 victory over No. 11 Florida.
Wisconsin received a beating from the Gators in Gainesville last season, but turned the tables in Madison to remain unbeaten in home openers at the Kohl Center.
“Last year I think we had just lost [redshirt junior Josh Gasser] and we were still finding our way with different things,” senior guard Ben Brust said. “You can’t look at [last year] too much, you just kind of got to move on and realize this is a new year, new team and just kind of attack it with that mentality.”
The Badgers started slow in the first half due to an uncharacteristic amount of turnovers and poor shooting percentage.
Florida, on the other hand, came out shooting well thanks to sophomore guard Michael Frazier II, who was 3-of-4 from the 3-point line and 5-of-8 shooting overall. Frazier led the Gators in scoring at halftime with 13 points.
UW trailed 16-4 midway through the half, until sophomore forward Sam Dekker ignited the offense by hitting two 3-point shots on consecutive possessions.
Freshman forward Nigel Hayes furthered the Badgers’ offensive push, scoring 6 points off the bench in the first half.
“[Hayes] likes to compete. He’s got the body to do it and he’s got the court sense that he picks up things rather quickly,” head coach Bo Ryan said. “That’s why he’s able to get on the floor as a freshman.”
Despite the slow start, Wisconsin was able to control the tempo of the game in the final minutes of the first half. The Badgers’ much-improved defense and outside shooting earned them a 29-26 lead going into halftime.
Just minutes into the second half junior forward Frank Kaminsky, Brust and Dekker all tallied 3-point plays for Wisconsin, taking a 10-point lead after six minutes of play.
The lead slowly diminished when Florida applied full court pressure that resulted in multiple UW turnovers.
The Gators’ leading scorer, senior forward Casey Prathers, headed to the locker room midway through the second half with what looked like a serious injury, but returned just over a minute later.
Florida closed the double digit lead to only three points with just under four minutes to play, until Kaminsky buried a game-changing 3-pointer to stretch the Wisconsin lead back to six points.
Kaminsky would finish the game with eight points and five total rebounds.
The Badgers owned a four-point lead with 41 seconds to play, but the game turned into a one-possession game following Florida senior center Patric Young’s bonus free throws.
With less than 10 seconds left Jackson hit a clutch elbow jumper to put Wisconsin up by five. The Badgers would hold on to complete the comeback and earn their second win of the season.
Wisconsin shot 43.8 percent from the floor, while shooting 45 percent from beyond the arc.
“We might be the only team to not shoot a free throw in [the first] half,” Ryan said. “I thought we could have done a better job of attacking and getting some things going to the rim, where you do get people to use their hand more, and that’s what we did in the second half.”
