Greg Gard reveals key adjustments against Iowa
As the snow rained on, Wisconsin basketball pulled off a massive win over Iowa keep their NCAA Tournament dreams intact on Wednesday night. The game itself was about as ugly as the weather outside, as the Badgers put a muzzle on Iowa’s potent offense, which ranks top-10 nationally, en route to a rather decisive 64-52 victory. This was a matchup between two bubble teams, with Iowa looking at a possible Quad 1 win at Wisconsin, while Greg Gard’s club needed to avoid a Quad 2 loss to the Hawkeyes as both clubs were coming off losses this past weekend.
Alas, it was the Badgers who rebounded to give Iowa their second straight defeat while Wisconsin landed back in the win column. The Badgers only led by one point at the halftime break but rode a terrific second half to an eventual 12-point victory. So, after the game, the big question was: what were head coach Greg Gard’s adjustments at the break?
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His response in the postgame press conference:
“Don’t throw it to them. That was the first thing. And then some angles and things. I thought we got straight across from each other. At halftime we talked about getting back and when you need to be a release point, you can. But we can’t run it high in the other corner and have us outnumbered. And then we were aggressive with it. We were able to convert a few times. We were able to foul in transition or get a basket where it put them on their heels a bit, and they could not be as aggressive.”
Per Gard, a few points of emphasis in the second half: don’t turn the ball over and limit Iowa in transition. The Badgers succeeded in both categories en route to their huge win. Gard knew his team needed to muck it up, limit possessions and keep Iowa from pushing the tempo. That all starts with not turning the ball over for easy run-outs while getting back in transition after missed shots. Great effort and game-plan from Wisconsin. Credit the staff for sticking to their scouting and limiting the other team’s strengths in a clash of two completely different styles.