Thanks to a strong first half that saw four different players reach double digits in scoring, No. 3 Wisconsin cruised to an 89-45 victory over Chattanooga Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center.
Junior forward Sam Dekker led all scorers with 18 points on 7-10 shooting from the field and senior guard Traevon Jackson added 16 points for UW. Senior forward Frank Kaminsky and sophomore forward Nigel Hayes each scored 15 points and recorded double-doubles, finishing with 10 and 13 rebounds, respectively.
Sophomore forward Vitto Brown also chipped in six points and a career-high nine rebounds off the bench.
“I thought our guys stayed really solid,” said Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. “We had three turnovers there in the last couple minutes which we shouldn’t have had, but other than that, for about 36, 37 minutes, I thought we did a real good job of getting good looks that we wanted.”
The Badgers (2-0) forced the Mocs (1-1) to abandon their usual up-tempo playing style. Chattanooga head coach Will Wade, formerly an assistant at VCU under Shaka Smart, likes to employ a system that he calls “Chaos,” which places an emphasis on full-court pressure, points off turnovers, fast-break points, three-point shooting and offensive rebounds.
However, Wade said that the Mocs had to deviate from their usual game plan against Wisconsin.
“You can’t run [the Chaos system] against Wisconsin. They would’ve scored 130 points on us if we’d have run it against them,” Wade said. “They’re just good athletes. They just drove right around us a couple of times.”
Chattanooga scored just two points off of UW’s nine turnovers and finished with no fastbreak points. The Mocs were also held to just three points on three offensive rebounds.
Senior guard Ronrico White had 15 points to lead Chattanooga, who scored 110 points against Hiwassee College in its season opener.
“[The Mocs] do a great job of forcing you into turnovers that they score off of,” said Ryan, who earned his 100th non-conference win at the Kohl Center. “If you look at points off of turnovers, second-chance points and fastbreak points, I don’t think anybody will do that to Chattanooga this year.”
The Badgers were especially dominant in the first half, hitting 12 of their first 17 shots and building a 52-21 lead by halftime. Hayes had already reached his double-double by the break, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the game’s first 20 minutes.
It was a day of firsts for Hayes, who recorded his first career double-double and made the first three-pointer of his collegiate career. His 13 rebounds were also a career high.
“I was really impressed with Nigel Hayes,” Wade said. “I know Dekker and Kaminsky and those guys get a lot of the press, but Hayes, man, that’s a ballplayer.”
UW controlled the boards, outrebounding the Mocs 49-21, and was balanced on offense, finishing the game with 20 assists. That total is the highest the Badgers have had since they dished out 21 assists in a win against Samford in December of 2012.
Kaminsky posted four assists to lead the team for a second consecutive game.
“I think we usually do good against teams that try to speed us up,” Dekker said. “When we’re sharing the ball like we were tonight, I think we can do some pretty good things.”
