The 21st ranked Wisconsin Badgers took on the 11th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes last night, and the story for Iowa in their win was All-American Center Luka Garza. After long talks all week about Ayo Dosunmu being the potential Player of the Year in the Big Ten Conference, Luka Garza reminded everyone who he is. Garza scored 30 points on 11/19 shooting, including 4/6 from long range. He also collected 8 rebounds and 2 assists to add on to his spectacular performance. It’s tough to say the first half offensive performance from Wisconsin was good defense or bad offense, but the Hawkeyes held the Badgers to just 25% shooting in the first half.
CJ Fredrick returned to the Iowa starting lineup, playing 31 minutes. Fredrick scored just 5 points, but collected 4 assists and spread the floor out much more. This allowed Joe Wieskamp to continue his recent tear. Wieskamp scored 17 points on 6/9 shooting and 5/8 from long range. To note, the Hawkeyes shot 63.2% from 3, their best since January 10th vs Minnesota.
Despite Micah Potter’s 23 point performance, Wisconsin just could not get it done on both ends of the floor. Wisconsin was not able to defend three point shot as well as they hoped, as stated earlier. Offensively it wasn’t much better. The Badgers shot a lackluster 30% from the field. Senior Guard D’mitrik Trice scored 11 points, but at a cost. Trice finished the game shooting 3/15 from the field and 2/8 from 3. On the bright side for him, he totaled 9 assists in this contest, a season high. Senior Guard Brad Davidson broke out of his slump, scoring 15 points on 5 three point shots.
Iowa will return home this Sunday as they face the Penn State Nittany Lions who have lost 3 straight, and 4 of their last 5. The Nittany Lions are led by Junior Guard Myreon Jones who scored 18 points in their loss to the 4th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Thursday. You can catch this matchup on FS1 on Sunday at 4 PM CT.
For the Badgers, they hit the road to take on the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston. Northwestern has lost 12 straight after a 6-1 start to the season. This is a must win for Wisconsin if they want to continue to fight for a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament. You can catch this Sunday night matchup at 6 PM CT on the Big Ten Network.