Heading into Sunday’s matchup with Xavier, Bronson Koenig was mired in a significant shooting slump.
By the end of the night, the junior guard had put forth one of the best performances of his collegiate career and drilled a game-winning 3-pointer to send the Badgers into the Sweet Sixteen.
Prior to Sunday night’s game, Koenig had gone 7 of 32 from the field (21.9 percent), including 3 of 17 from 3-point range (17.6 percent). Needless to say, Koenig’s shooting stroke was off, and Wisconsin probably couldn’t afford off nights from both Koenig and junior forward Nigel Hayes if they were to move forward in the NCAA Tournament.
Luckily for the Badgers, Koenig was up for the task.
The night didn’t start particularly well for Koenig, who started 0 of 4 from the field, including a pair of misses from deep. However, midway through the first half, Xavier temporarily switched to a 1-3-1 zone defense, providing Koenig with a chance to shoot out of his slump.
The Musketeers have employed the 1-3-1 before under head coach Chris Mack, but they have relied on it quite a bit during the 2015-’16 season. According to Matt Giles of FiveThirtyEight.com, Xavier had used the 1-3-1 zone on 33.6 percent of its defensive possessions during the regular season, a jump from 13 percent the season before.
Thanks to its lengthy roster, Mack saw an opportunity to utilize the 1-3-1 more often this year and, for the most part, the Musketeers were quite successful, allowing just 0.797 points per possession when using it during the regular season, according to Giles.
However, one obvious weakness of the 1-3-1 defense is that it will give opposing guards open looks from the wings. So when Xavier made the switch to the 1-3-1, Koenig seized the opportunity.
Though he missed his first attempt from deep after Xavier’s defensive switch, Koenig finally broke through when he buried a 3-pointer from the left wing at the 8:32 mark in the first half. On the very next possession, he drilled another, this time from the right wing, to give the Badgers an early 17-8 lead and forced Mack to burn a timeout.
The Musketeers switched from the 1-3-1 back to a man-to-man defense shortly after Koenig’s back-to-back triples, but those two threes allowed may have been the spark to one of the best performances of his UW career.
For a shooter as good as Koenig, slumps aren’t necessarily because of a mechanical problem. Struggles from 3-point range can simply be a confidence issue, and seeing a couple go down on back-to-back possessions can be all a shooter needs to suddenly catch fire.
That was certainly the case for Koenig, who hit a third triple in the first half — also against the 1-3-1 zone — and of course would hit a couple of huge 3-pointers in crunch time.
In total, Koenig made a career-high six threes on the night, including a game-tying triple with 11.7 seconds left and, of course, the game winner at the buzzer.
It would be way too overly simplistic to say that Xavier’s use of the 1-3-1 zone defense caused it to lose against Wisconsin. After all, the Musketeers have had great success with it throughout the year and Koenig could have just as easily continued to struggle. However, the defensive switch midway through the first half allowed Koenig a chance to break out of his slump, and he delivered in a big way.
His back-to-back 3-pointers may have seemed inconsequential at the half, where the Musketeers led 33-30, but those two shots may have been just what the doctor ordered for Koenig. It very well could have gave him the confidence he needed in the clutch, where he ended up hitting a shot that will live on forever in Wisconsin basketball and NCAA Tournament lore.
