AUCKLAND, New Zealand — At one point last season, former Wisconsin forward
Nigel Hayes proclaimed that
Brevin Pritzl was the best shooter in the country. Tuesday night in Auckland, the New Zealand Breakers found out exactly what Hayes meant. Pritzl scored a team-high 28 points, going 7-for-9 from 3-point range, and helped lead Wisconsin to an 85-75 win in the opener of a five-game trip Down Under.
"It was good to finally be back on our feet playing basketball again," Pritzl said. "Today was just about doing the things that we do in practice and executing them. When shots are open you have to take them and we just had a really good team flow to find shots."
In front of fellow sharp-shooter and UW Hall of Famer Kirk Penney, Pritzl kept the Breakers off balance all night, hitting triples in the half court set, off double teams and even in transition. Penney, an Auckland native and member of the Breakers, did not participate in the game, but came away impressed with his alma mater.
Pritzl got help from 2017 All-American
Ethan Happ, who tallied a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Happ also added three assists and four steals while going 3-for-3 from the free throw line.
Freshman
Brad Davison had an impressive debut scoring 13 points (6-7 FTs) to go with four rebounds, two assists and three steals. Junior
Khalil Iverson rounded out double-digit scorers for the Badgers with 10 points.
"I thought we learned a lot on the fly," head coach
Greg Gard said. "I thought from the first quarter to second quarter and then third quarter to fourth quarter we got better with the ball. Our turnovers went down every quarter, but also defensively I think we figured some things out. We were much better at communicating, better in transition and then we made some shots late to pull away in the last couple minutes."
Wisconsin trailed by as many as nine points early on, but battled back to grab a 44-42 halftime lead. But the Breakers, led by New Zealand national team starters Tom Abercrombie and Mika Vucona, kept it close and regained the lead at 69-67 early in the fourth quarter.
With the lineup of Pritzl, Happ, Iverson, Davison and junior
Andy Van Vliet, the Badgers responded with a 12-0 run to seize control. Pritzl's seventh 3-pointer of the night, which came on a kickout from Happ, put the Badgers ahead, 72-69. They would never relinquish that lead.
"During that stretch we just executed and then on defense we finally sat down and guarded and tried to get them out of what they were trying to do," Pritzl explained. "Doing that allowed us to get some easy baskets down the court and overall that really helped us push ahead."
"We played a lot of guys and got a lot of experience at different positions and different times," Gard added. "Pritzl really got better defensively as the game went on and obviously made a lot of shots for us.
Brad Davison, for a freshman, really came in and played well.
"
Kobe King was active on the glass (four offensive rebounds) and
Ethan Happ was his steady self. Overall, I'm happy for the first time with a lot of new faces on the floor."
In addition to Pritzl, Happ and Iverson, Gard rounded out his starting lineup with sophomore
D'Mitrik Trice and junior
Alex Illikainen.
Wisconsin turned the ball over only 11 times, including just once in the decisive fourth quarter. On the opposite end, UW racked up 14 steals. The Badgers also were dialed in from the free throw line, connecting on 15-of-18 attempts.
The Badgers will turn around and prepare for a rematch with the Breakers on Thursday, Aug. 17, but this time playing in Tauranga, New Zealand. Game time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. local time (1:30 a.m. CT).
