Badgers Ready For Season Opener
2-0 Exhibition Offers Success To Build On
By Scott Beedy
Staff Writer
Channel 3000MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team starts its season officially on Sunday. During the final exhibition game on Wednesday, the Badgers admittedly failed to finish on several plays. But, while there are things to work on, for the most part, you can't argue with two blowout victories."I think that the way our team has played the last two games is a big difference from how we played in the exhibition last year," said Keaton Nankivil. "Just, as far as confidence and playing as a team goes."Nankival scored 16 points against the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to lead the Badgers. Jon Leuer added 14 points. Both big men can play the post, but also have the ability to shoot from outside."Over the course of a season, you will have games where you are knocking everything down and other games where it is just not happening," Leuer said. "Coach talked about having absolutes, like defense, our rebounding and as long as we're focusing on that, we know we got good enough shooters on this team and guys that can finish. That's inevitable. That's going to happen."Taking care of the ball is also key for the Badgers style of play. Senior point guard Trevon Hughes couldn't have started the season any more consistent. In the two exhibition games, he has 16 assists and only two turnovers. He credited his teammates."People (are) being more consistent this year," said Hughes. "Just having shooters on the court opens up the court for me. When I get into the lane, it's a whole lot easier."As for being ready for the season to start, coach Bo Ryan is staying focused on the bigger picture."You are never satisfied," coach Bo Ryan said. "Because there is anyways something that you are going to see on film that you want to show them, but I thought our effort defensively was good."
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Channel 3000MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team starts its season officially on Sunday. During the final exhibition game on Wednesday, the Badgers admittedly failed to finish on several plays. But, while there are things to work on, for the most part, you can't argue with two blowout victories."I think that the way our team has played the last two games is a big difference from how we played in the exhibition last year," said Keaton Nankivil. "Just, as far as confidence and playing as a team goes."Nankival scored 16 points against the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to lead the Badgers. Jon Leuer added 14 points. Both big men can play the post, but also have the ability to shoot from outside."Over the course of a season, you will have games where you are knocking everything down and other games where it is just not happening," Leuer said. "Coach talked about having absolutes, like defense, our rebounding and as long as we're focusing on that, we know we got good enough shooters on this team and guys that can finish. That's inevitable. That's going to happen."Taking care of the ball is also key for the Badgers style of play. Senior point guard Trevon Hughes couldn't have started the season any more consistent. In the two exhibition games, he has 16 assists and only two turnovers. He credited his teammates."People (are) being more consistent this year," said Hughes. "Just having shooters on the court opens up the court for me. When I get into the lane, it's a whole lot easier."As for being ready for the season to start, coach Bo Ryan is staying focused on the bigger picture."You are never satisfied," coach Bo Ryan said. "Because there is anyways something that you are going to see on film that you want to show them, but I thought our effort defensively was good."
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