ST. LOUIS — It was far from pretty, but the Badgers remain alive in the NCAA Tournament.
In a game that was the living embodiment of “survive and advance,” No. 7 seed Wisconsin (21-12) grinded out a 47-43 win against No. 10 seed Pittsburgh (21-12) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night.
The play of redshirt freshman forward Ethan Happ was key for the Badgers in the victory, especially in the second half. Happ scored 12 of his game-high 15 points in the second half, going 6-of-8 from the field in his tournament debut.
“He’s a really good player,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said of Happ. “We wanted to limit his touches. We did a pretty good job, especially in the first half. But in the second half he seemed to get a lot more isolations in the post and hurt us around the basket with some tough finishes.”
Happ’s contributions early in the second half provided a spark that helped Wisconsin get something going on offense on a night where junior forward Nigel Hayes and junior guard Bronson Koenig were far from their best. On the game, Hayes went 3-of-17 from the field, including 0-of-6 from 3-point range, while Koenig went 1-of-8.
“I couldn’t hit water if I fell out of a boat in the middle of the Pacific,” Hayes said of his shooting Friday night. “That’s why it’s a team game. It’s not the Wisconsin Nigels, it’s Wisconsin Badgers, and everybody else stepped up and contributed to a great win.”
In the first half, nothing was going right for Wisconsin offensively.
The Badgers scored just six points in the first 13:53 of the game and didn’t reach double digits until there were 4:27 left in the half. They shot 25 percent from the field, including a 2-of-9 mark from 2-point range, and grabbed only three offensive rebounds off their 18 misses and scored a paltry 0.57 points per possession.
And yet, Wisconsin only headed into the locker room trailing 22-16 thanks to an 8-2 run to end the half. Over the first 20 minutes, the Panthers were held to 37 percent shooting and 0.76 points per possession. So, despite the Badgers’ major struggles on offense, the deficit they faced at halftime was still manageable.
“We knew our defense was playing well,” redshirt junior guard Zak Showalter said of the team’s halftime mentality. “To be only down six when we shot [25 percent] said a lot about what type of game it would be in the second half and it really allowed us to make some adjustments.”
The Badgers came out a lot stronger in the second half, as Happ took over on offense. He scored nine of the team’s first 11 points in the half to give UW a 27-26 lead with 14:43 left. Equally important, Pittsburgh racked up fouls in a hurry, and Wisconsin was already in the bonus at the 4:54 mark in the half.
Still, the Panthers swung back to reclaim the lead, which they held for a majority of the half. It wasn’t until junior forward Vitto Brown drilled a 3-pointer, his third of the game, with 2:35 remaining that the Badgers would take the lead for good.
That decisive shot, which put UW up 42-40, was made possible thanks to a play by Showalter that didn’t end up on the score sheet.
After a missed Koenig layup, Showalter was able to tip the loose ball back to Koenig, keeping the possession alive, which of course later led to the go-ahead triple.
“First off, to be able to keep the ball alive, that was the biggest thing,” Brown said of Showalter’s play. “We knew at that moment of the game we had to make them pay for every mistake that they make. So it was an open shot. I was ten toes to the rim, so I was just ready to shoot. I think from then on that helped us with our momentum and we were able to get another stop in the next play.”
Following Brown’s three, the Badgers did get a crucial defensive stop and Happ scored on the ensuing possession to make it a four-point lead. However, a defensive lapse allowed Pitt junior forward Jamel Artis to drain a wide-open 3-pointer to cut the deficit back to one.
Wisconsin came up empty on its next possession, giving the Panthers a chance at the winning bucket, but senior guard James Robinson ran into his own teammate with just over two seconds left, causing his shot to miss badly.
Happ would make 1-of-2 from the line and Hayes would be fouled going for the rebound on the miss, allowing him to ice the game from the charity stripe.
It was far from their best effort, but the Badgers did just enough to squeak by Pittsburgh and advance to the second round, where they’ll play No. 2 seed Xavier Sunday at approximately 7:40 p.m.
Even when Hayes and Koenig struggled, Happ, in his NCAA Tournament debut, led the charge and Brown, playing his first meaningful NCAA Tournament minutes, was there to hit several key shots to give Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard his first tournament win.
“It’s easy to play for a guy like that who, I tell my friends and family how much time he puts in watching film of other teams, not only that, but practice film of us,” Happ said of Gard. “When a guy cares that much, it’s easy to play hard for him.”
