Category: Maryland Terps

🏀MARCH MADNESS:  Bucky Game, But Bears Got Game — Baylor Knocks Badgers Off Dance Floor! ☹️

Badger Caged
Caged Badger
PHOTO: Miss Shari
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🏀MARCH MADNESS:  Bucky Game, But Bears Got Game — Baylor Knocks Badgers Off Dance Floor! ☹️

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Exclusive
March 21, 2021

The Wisconsin Badgers (18-13) made it respectable. But, the #1-seed Baylor Bears seized control early in the first half  of the South Second Round Game from West Lafayette, IN on their way to a convincing 76-63 victory. The Bears thus move on to the Sweet 16, while the Badgers’ season ends. 

The three-point shot, which was the Badgers “best friend” in their round one victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday night, abandoned the Badgers and went over to the Bears. Baylor drained 8 of 17 threes for 47.1%, while Wisconsin shot only 37% from behind the arc, missing 13 of 21 attempts. Turnovers, often a Badgers strength, were their achilles heel this afternoon, with the Badgers committing 13 to the Bears’ four. 

Baylor led 42-29 at the half. To their credit, the Badgers hung in and cut the lead to seven points several times in the second half. But, they couldn’t get any closer. After playing consistently against North Carolina, the Badgers reverted to their regular season form with several long “dry spells” that helped seal their fate. Overall, however, Baylor was just too good. 

The Badgers were led by seniors D’Mitrik Trice (12 pts.), Nate Reuters (11 pts.), and freshman guard Jonathan Davis (10 pts.). The victorious Bears were paced by junior guard Matthew Mayer, who came off the bench to score 17, eight above his season average.

Although the Badgers were not expected to make the “Sweet 16,” they joined a growing list of Big-10 failures in this year’s NCAA Men’s tournament. Just before the start of the Wisconsin-Baylor game, the #8 Loyola Ramblers (led in spirit by their #1 fan, the famous “Sister Jean”) dominated #1-seed Illinois 71-58, in another “nobody saw this coming” upset. Of the nine Big-10 teams invited to the dance, only Rutgers, Michigan, Iowa, and Maryland remain alive, all with second round games coming up.  

Congratulations to Coach Greg Gard and his team on another winning season and NCAA Tournament birth.

Not all news was bad for Wisconsin sports over the weekend. The Badger Women’s hockey team beat Northeastern on Saturday to win the “Frozen Four” and the NCAA Championship!

On Wisconsin!

Bucky Badger
Bucky Badger
UW Mascot

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Badgers Snap Two-Game Skid With Convincing 71-60 Home Victory Over Terps!

MADISON, WI.  Just when they needed him most, Senior Nigel Hayes came out of his funk and Bronson Koenig returned to the lineup to give the #11 Badgers (22-5, 11-3) a hard fought victory over the #23 Maryland Terps (22-5, 10-4) at the Kohl Center Sunday afternoon. The Badgers remained in a tie with the Purdue Boilermakers for the Big 10 lead going into the final stretch.

The Terps came out strong and jumped to a 33-27 halftime lead, the Badgers biggest deficit of the season. But, the Badgers finally looked like the “old Badgers” in the second half, shooting 51%, playing tough defense, turning the ball over only once, and knocking down some clutch free throws to put the game out of reach.

14 of Hayes’s 21 points came in the second half, as did all 9 of Keonig’s points. Playing his tough inside game, which had been missing recently, and hitting mid-range jumpers instead of throwing up 3-point bricks, Hayes also led Bucky with 10 rebounds as the Badgers crushed the Terps on the boards 44-27.

Sensational redshirt sophomore center Ethan Happ turned in another solid 20 point performance. He  undoubtedly was happy to have some help from his friends this time. Recently, Happ has carried the team as various starters have been injured or slumped.

Redshirt freshman Brevin Pritzil (7 pts, 7 boards) had some good minutes off the bench, and looks to have moved into the “seventh man” position behind freshman guard D’Mitrik Trice. Weak bench play has plagued the Badgers this season.

The Badgers second half heroics overshadowed a tremendous performance by Terps’ all-everything guard Melo Trimble, who was nearly unstoppable, scoring 27 points, nearly half his team’s total.

On Thursday, the Badgers travel to Columbus, OH, where they hope to complete a sweep of the Buckeyes (15-13, 5-10). Meanwhile, the Terps will attempt to bounce back against the Minnesota Golden Gophers Wednesday at home.

PWS

02/20/17

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