UW-GB Game Blog First Half

Welcome from my living room for Wisconsin's first televised game of the year. I have to say that ESPN Full Court is worth every penny.

Game note: Wisconsin is 12-0 vs. UW-GB

1st Half

19:40 Flowers opens up the scoring with a three. Great ball movement leads to the open look. Chappel looks improved from last year, which is great news.

18:00 Flowers knocks down another 3 and gets fouled, continuing his great perimeter shooting from the Italy trip. However, he misses the free throw, which continues the trend of poor team FT shooting this season. Bo has to be concerned about missing the FTs.

16:40 Badgers pound the offensive boards on the shorter Phoenix, playing volleyball until Tucker lays it in. Landry is the first sub of the game, sporting goggles. Krabbenhoff comes in as well.

15:46 The score is 14-4 at the first TV timeout. Shot clock has gone down, but it hasn't been a real issue so far with both teams getting into their sets quickly.

15:00 The Wisconsin D has been suffocating and has forced more than a couple turnovers.

14:30 Steisma takes the charge. The close up shot shows he is sporting a mohawk, but not quite as colorful as Zalewski's.

14:00 Landry knocks down a corner jumper. The Badgers are shooting 67% from the field.

13:20 Bohannon checks into the game for the first time. He takes a charge a minute later.

13:01 Tucker makes 1 of 2 FTs. In baseball, 50% would win the batting title, but it is not so good from the line.

11:54 Badgers up 22-4. They are clicking on all cylinders.

11:24 Joe Krabbenhoff has been nicknamed the "enforcer" by the local writers for his willingness to throw his body around the court. I could see him playing free safety for Bret Bielema. He is the type of player every teams needs to do the little things.

9:24 The offense is really flowing with players coming in and out and fitting right in. Tucker makes 2 of 2 FTs. Wisconsin has only committed 2 TOs so far (to UW-GBs 7).

9:08 Hughes checks in the for first time. He just looks like a PG.

8:14 27-11 Badgers. UW-GB tries a 1-2-2 zone to stop the Badgers' hot shooting, but Taylor puts it on the floor and hits a 10 ft jumper. Taylor hits a triple on the next possession down the floor. UW is 4-5 from behind the arc.

6:58 Tucker hits 1 of 2 FTs. 30 seconds later he gets called for a charge and Bo displays his first angry face of the season.

5:48 UW-GB has been shooting better and they are now within 15 pts.

5:22 UW-GB hits another 3. Tucker answers with a great cut and Krabbenhoff feeds him for the easy layup.

4:21 Tucker makes a fallaway jumper after spinning out of a double team. He seems to have moved his game inside after spending the first half of the Mercer game shooting 3s. I think he was trying to prove to the NBA scouts that he could hit the long-range shot.

4:00 Just as I say that, Tucker takes an ill-advised 3 and misses. Wisconsin by 16 at the under 4 timeout. Flowers has 10 pts so far.

2:49 Tucker hits 1 of 2 FTs. Anybody see a trend?

1:48 Taylor makes a beautiful pass to Butch, who blows the dunk and hangs on the rim for basket interference. Put it down Big Fella, put it down.

0:30 Wisconsin has the ball for the final shot of the half. They clear out for Taylor, who drives and kicks to Bohannon for 3. But the ball hits the back iron and the half is over. Wisconsin 45-29 at the half.

BTW, Winthrop just lost by 7 against UNC. They will visit the Kohl Center on December 4th. This is the same team that took Tennessee to the wire in the first round last year.