It had been a long time since senior forward Nigel Hayes was held to three or fewer points in a game. It hadn’t happened since the Badgers’ first Final Four matchup with Kentucky in April 2014, when Hayes played just seven minutes and scored two points in the heartbreaking loss.
His struggles, though, laid a path for freshman guard D’Mitrik Trice to announce his presence.
Trice, who led Wisconsin (2-1) with 23 minutes, made everyone’s life easy in the Badgers’ 69-51 win over Chicago State (1-1). He dished out seven assists and avoided even a single turnover as he found open teammates everywhere on the court.
“He just has a feel for it. He does some things you can’t coach,” head coach Greg Gard said. “He was a really good high school quarterback; he knows how to lead, he says the right things … just the difference he makes when he goes on the floor.”
In just his third game as a Badger, Trice became the fourth Wisconsin player to record seven or more assists with no turnovers in a game since 2010, joining Hayes, Traevon Jackson and Jordan Taylor.
The young IMG Academy product got his night off to an early start, feeding sophomore forward Ethan Happ a perfect ball for his first assist of the night. He caught the ball in the left corner and drew a double team, leaving Happ wide open underneath. Trice whipped the ball over the shoulders of two defenders and set his teammate up for a bunny layup.
The very next possession, Trice got the ball at the elbow and found senior forward Vitto Brown open at the foul line for an easy jumper that put the Badgers up for the first time, 9-8, with 13:04 left in the first half.
“As of right now, I’m just doing everything I can to be on the floor, earn my minutes and help this team win in any way possible,” Trice said. “That’s what I’m here to do and I’m gonna keep doing that.”
Four of Trice’s assists came during a 19-0 run that helped UW recover from a dreadful start, falling behind 8-0 in the first 2:46 of the game. He scored or assisted on 11 of those 19 points, and the Badgers never looked back.
After a scoreless first half, Hayes finally got on the board with a nifty layup just 42 seconds into the second half, but his presence wasn’t needed down the stretch as he played just four minutes in the final stanza.
Hayes played a team-high 36 minutes in UW’s loss to Creighton just 48 hours earlier, and he and his fellow starters earned some much-needed rest against the Cougars.
“You could see the guys that were heavy-minute guys Tuesday night were a little sluggish tonight,” Gard said. “That has an impact, there’s no doubt, playing that type of game. I don’t know if we have this type of result if not for the bench.”
The bench was indeed stellar, scoring more than half of the Badgers’ points on the night. Everyone got in on the action; sophomore forward Khalil Iverson was the headliner with 11 points and two rim-rocking dunks, but fellow sophomore forward Charles Thomas quietly had an outstanding night with seven points and seven rebounds.
After averaging 34 3-point attempts in their first two games, the Badgers finally settled into a more sustainable ratio and actively sought opportunities in the low block. They took just 19 threes—though they still struggled, making just 26.3 percent of those attempts—and scored a season-high 34 points in the paint.
“They knew the ball needed to touch the red [paint],” Gard said. “We were a little out of sorts at times, but I think there was definitely a conscious effort to try to throw the thing inside as much as possible.”
UW now heads across the Pacific Ocean to spend the weekend in Hawaii, where Tennessee (1-1) awaits in the quarterfinals of the Maui Invitational. Tipoff is set for Monday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
