BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Marking March Madness' most exciting upset so far, Mike Lucas had a front-row seat as eighth-seeded Wisconsin up-ended No. 1 overall seed and defending national champion Villanova, 65-62, to advance to the Sweet 16 of the 2017 NCAA Tournament on Saturday. Here is what he saw from courtside.
DOWN (57-50) BUT NOT OUT
After Donte DiVincenzo, who has a Mike Bruesewitz edginess and motor, nailed a 3-pointer to extend Villanova's lead to seven points, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard called a timeout with 5:16 left. "I didn't want it (the deficit) to get much further because I've seen them melt the clock," Gard explained. "We were fine and the players were positive about everything. We still had plenty of time. It's a three-possession game. But we had to get it done on the defensive end. We couldn't keep trading baskets."
Timing is everything.
"And it was a great timeout by coach Gard just to get us settled down," said UW assistant Howard Moore. "Our huddle was great as far as everyone said stuff that was positive, everyone talked about correcting the things that we weren't doing well. We talked about not giving up easy shots and working a little harder on the defensive end and just stringing out some stops."
The battle-tested Badgers responded to the urgency of the moment and championship pedigree of the opponent. "It was one stop at a time," said Ethan Happ. "Every bucket matters, every rebound matters, especially when you're down. You have to do the little things to get back into it. With that much time left, with how tough our defense can be, we knew that we definitely had a shot at it."
Senior Strong. All 4 for one. One 4 all. "We're confident, calm and collected," said Zak Showalter, one of 4 seniors, along with Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig and Vitto Brown. "That's what Nigel was saying the other day. That's what our team has gained throughout the years. We're always calm and collected in these situations. This was another example of that. There was a lot of time left on the clock. Five minutes is an eternity. If you go ask Villanova, I guarantee they're saying the same thing right now."
Coming out of that timeout, the Badgers got a basket from Hayes; a defensive stop (Happ swallowed up a DiVincenzo shot attempt); a step-back jumper from Koenig; a defensive stop (Hayes blocked Hart's lay-up out of bounds and Jalen Brunson missed a 3-pointer) and a cold-blooded triple out of the right-wing corner by Koenig to cap the 7-0 run. Koenig was set up by Hayes on a draw and kick. "I was dribbling around the court aimlessly and I threw it out to him and he made the shot," Hayes said.
It was not the only clutch shot that Koenig made after re-entering the game at 5:43. "I knew when I got my opportunity I was going to have to make some big plays," said Koenig, who went to the bench with 13:41 remaining in the second half after picking up his fourth personal foul. "I knew that's not how my career was going to end (on the sidelines). And I knew when Coach (Gard) gave me the opportunity to get back in there, I was going to make something happen."
Over the final 5:07, the Badgers outscored Nova, 15-5. Koenig had 8 of the 15.
THE SHOT
In most late-clock, late-game situations, the Badgers have dialed 24: Koenig's number. But when play resumed following a timeout with 20.3 seconds left, Koenig gave up the ball to Hayes. Happ drew his man (Eric Paschall) up the lane line and away from the rim and Hayes had an isolation on the right side of the floor with 6-foot-7 Mikal Bridges. "It's kind of a play we run all the time, just a side isolation," said Hayes, who beat Bridges off the bounce, head-faked an inside spin and reversed a left-handed shot off the glass for the tie-breaking score. "I didn't know what move I was actually going to do before I caught the ball. I just went and did a fake spin and got to my left hand," said Hayes, who had seen clips of Michael Jordan attacking the baseline with a stagger dribble and a fake spin, a move also popularized by Steve Smith. "I actually thought I missed it," Hayes confessed. "I felt I threw it a little too hard. Luckily it went in."
THE STOP
Villanova had 12 seconds to tie or take the lead. "We wanted to get the ball to Jalen (Brunson) and go down to the half-court and run a play," said Josh Hart, the presumptive Player of the Year in college basketball. "They picked us up full court and we couldn't get it to him. They passed it to me and we went into a ball screen. But Wisconsin made a heckuva defensive play."
Hayes picked up Hart and UW switched on a Paschall screen. "He (Hart) came off the screen and it was my responsibility to take him," said Happ, who walled up in the lane against Hart. Waiting for Hart was Brown who had collapsed off Kris Jenkins. "When I saw that he (Hart) had his head down, I knew he was going to shoot; he wasn't looking to pass it at that point," Brown said. "That's why I figured I could help off my man and get in there and try to knock it loose. Ethan did a great job of slowing him down without fouling." Brown got the steal and was fouled. "We knew it was going to come down to who can stay more solid, who can weather the storm and continue to play their basketball," Brown said.
DID YOU NOTICE?
At the start of the second half, the Badgers were having trouble containing Hart, who was breaking down the defense with downhill, aggressive drives off a slip action on screens that created tough angles to guard. Gard made a defensive adjustment by putting the 6-8 Hayes on the 6-5 Hart. "With Nigel on him," Moore said, "he couldn't really turn the corner as well and even when he kind of got by him, he still had size to overcome. Nigel did a good job of staying tall and not fouling."
DID YOU NOTICE?
A demonstrative Koenig expressed his disappointment after Hayes' baseline pass was deflected out of bounds with a little over two minutes remaining. Koenig was wide open in the corner. "I really wanted it because I finally got free," Koenig said, "and I knew that I was going to make it if I got it. But they tipped it out and I was a little upset." After the Badgers inbounded, Koenig made a nifty move on the wing to get clear and sank a 3-pointer. "That baseline out of bounds when Koenig hit the three was huge," said Nova coach Jay Wright. "That's what close games come down to."
NOTE TO QUOTE
On March 18, 2000, the No. 8 seed, Wisconsin, upset the Arizona Wildcats, the No. 1 seed, in a second-round game at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. On March 18, 2017, the No. 8 seed, Wisconsin, upset the Villanova Wildcats, the No. 1 seed, in a second-round game at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. Seventeen years ago, Jon Bryant tied the school record with seven triples in an opening win over Fresno State. On Thursday, Koenig broke the record with eight triples in an opening win over Virginia Tech. That Dick Bennett-coached team reached the Final Four. Deja-Bucky? "Seeds don't matter. I've said that all along," Gard reiterated Saturday. "I told our guys, 'I don't care where we're seeded. We have to win six games. Let's start with these two this weekend.'"
QUOTE TO NOTE
When quizzed on what it takes to win high-stakes NCAA tournament games — like the ones they've played over the years against Arizona (twice), Xavier, Kentucky and now, Villanova — Hayes replied, "All of those games we've been the underdog. You have all types of your ranking systems, statistic analytics guys … The thing is with all those algorithms, they can't calculate heart, will to win, toughness, desire. They can't put that into a formula to come out with a percentage chance to win and that's the things that we have. The things that we've grown with. We've seen the older guys, they've had that. Our best example is Traevon (Jackson). When we got here, we watched Trae make clutch shot after clutch shot. Frank (Kaminsky) did the same thing. Now we're stepping into their shoes."
THE SKINNY ON FLORIDA
The Gators completely stifled Virginia, 65-39, in front of a home crowd in Orlando, Florida. The Cavaliers went nearly eight minutes without scoring, a stretch that started at the end of the first half and carried into the second. During that span, Florida scored 21 unanswered. Virginia made just 16-of-54 shots (.296), 1-of-15 from the 3-point line. Devin Robinson (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Justin Leon (14, 10) had double-doubles for the Gators, whose leading scorer KeVaughn Allen was held to just four points (2-of-10 FGs). Of note: Rick Barry's son, Canyon, is the second-leading scorer and shooting 88 percent (110-125) from the free throw line using the same underhand, granny-style technique of his old man. Also of note: The Gators lost their most physical low-post presence, 6-11, 255-pound center John Egbunu, to a torn ACL in February. Egbunu was averaging 8 points and 7 rebounds. He had 36 blocks in 24 games. Further noting: The Badgers won the last meeting against Florida, 59-53, at the Kohl Center. That was in 2013. They also played in 2012 with the Gators winning in a rout, 74-56, in Gainesville.
GARDO SEZ
"This was a gut-check win (over Villanova). We had to stand toe-to-toe and go punch-for-punch. That was one thing we talked about in the pre-game. I told the players 'This is going to be a punch-for-punch game and you're going to have to absorb some and you're going to have to hand out some. Embrace it … we've got to be the last one standing when it's all said and done.'"
