PVAMU Box Score Observations

Opening Comments: Once again, I did not see this game. Ugh. Hopefully, this is the last time this year I will say this.



Summarizing the game in a few words: UW won all phases of the game; shooting inside the arc, outside the arc and at the line; rebounding and turnovers. The key to the blowout was UW’s offensive rebounding.



Pace: The game had 66 possessions. Regular readers know we were around 60 last year. One might think a team would need more than 66 possessions to score 99 points. Not when you rebound like UW did on the offensive glass.



Efficiency: Points =99, possessions = 66. 99/66=1.5 PPP. That is some outstanding offense. Our best last year was 1.38 against Cal Poly.



Even more impressive was UW scored 1.81 PPP in the second half (a good but less impressive 1.21 in the first half). Yikes!



Meanwhile, PVA&M scored .83 PPP. That is good defense by UW or bad offense on their part.



Shooting: UW took more shots and made a higher percentage from outside the arc, inside the arc, and at the line. In short, we won the quality and quantity battle from all spots on the floor.



eFG%: UW shot a good 60%eFG. You might think they would have done better considering their high PPP. The difference is a lopsided offensive rebounding stat. UW missed 37 shots from the floor, but snared 24 offensive rebounds. An offensive rebound cancels a missed shot from a PPP perspective, but not from an eFG perspective. So, our less than stellar, but still very good, marksmanship was compensated for by excellent offensive rebounding.



3 pt shooting: Both teams shot well from deep. PVA&M hit 39% of their 18 shots, making 7. UW hit 13 of 31, 42%. So, while UW had only a small margin in quality, they won the quantity battle and put up an extra 18 points outside the arc.



2pt shooting: Inside the arc, PVA&M made 44% of their shots, 14 of 32. UW took 5 more shots inside, 37, and made 7 more shots, 21. UW hit 57% inside the arc. UW picked up another 14 points inside. UW took more high quality shots inside the arc outscoring PVA&M 36 to 16 in the paint, according to the UW web site.



1pt shooting: UW went to the line 14 more times and made 12 more points than PVA&M. UW was 18 of 22, 82% while PVA&M was 6 of 8, 75%.



Rebounding: UW crushed PVA&M on the boards – both ends – big time.



UW Defensive end: Thirty rebounding opportunities resulted in 27 defensive boards for UW. UW protected their end by getting a stunning 90% of PVA&M misses. Last year we got 22 of 24, or 92% against Illinois. But, rarely does a team get 90% or better of their rebounding chances.



UW Offensive End: UW really cleaned up their own misses. Of the 37 chances, UW got 24, or 65% of the misses. Wow! The national average is 33% and UW usually does worse than the national average.



Turnovers: PVA&M had 15, or 23% of their possessions end in TO’s. UW had 12, or 18% end in TO’s. While 18% is a good number nationally (21% is the national average), it is high by UW standards. I would guess Bo will concentrate on TO’s next week (which he probably does anyway).



Opportunity Index: UW had an unbelievable plus 24 OI. UW was plus 21 on offensive rebounds and plus 3 on turnovers.



Fouls: PVA&M picked up 22 fouls to UW’s 11.



Playing time: Bo went 9 deep, again (10 or more minutes). Besides the starters, which included Q, Evans got 11, Gasser starter-like 26, Bruesewitz 19 and Berggren 14.



Notable Performances: Leuer got 24 on only 13 FGA’s and 2 FTA’s. Excellent work. I expect to repeat this refrain often this year. Taylor got 20 but need some more shots to do it (16 FGA’s and 3 FTA). Taylor had an uncharacteristic 3 TO’s.



The story of the game was Josh Gasser’s debut. He played 26 minutes, scored 21 points on 5-8 FGA’s and 9-10 from the line, got a team high 9 boards, and but one lonely turnover. Josh, long will the tales of your exploits be told around the campfires of my people. Besides long, I think my people look forward to discussing your exploits often, since as a true freshman having played one game, it is reasonable to assume things will get even better.



Bruesewitz had a nice game going 4-4 from the field, 3-3 from deep and grabbing 6 boards in less than half a game (19 minutes). Nice work, Mike. I salute you.



Ryan Evans picked up 4 fouls in 11 minutes. He fouled out of the Mankato game in only 11 minutes. This bears keeping an eye on, but I would not think this is a problem, yet.



Grading Shetown’s Predictions



1. The Badgers grab more than 81% of the rebounding opportunities on the defensive side. Wisconsin stresses defensive rebounding and is taller at every position. PVAMU doesn't stress offensive rebounding. Major hit. UW got 90%. This was a bold prediction, 81%, but UW did even better.



2. The Badgers make more free throws than PVAMU attempts. This is more of a wish, but it's very probably given our great frontcourt. Hit. UW made 18, PVA&M tried 8. Now a prediction that would have been more interesting would have been, “Gasser will make more FT than PVA&M will attempt.”



3. The Badgers hold the Panthers to less than 21 points in the paint. Wisconsin dominates the inside with superior size and skill on the defensive end. Hit. PVA&M had 16.



4. The Badger have less than 11 turnovers. This is a bit gutsy for the start of the year, but I trust Jordan Taylor and Josh Gasser to reward my boldness. Miss. UW had 12.



The Badgers blow the Panthers out of the gym with an ultra efficient 81-52 victory in 65 possessions. Hit. UW did even better: 99-55 in 66 possessions.



Closing Thoughts: I wish I would have seen the game. I know PVA&M is not a good team and hard conclusions should not be drawn from this game. But, Gasser’s performance was truly remarkable.



Gasser would be an interesting choice for my favorite player. For one thing, I would not have to think about it for 4 years, which might be too long to go with one player. I recognize he is not likely to repeat this performance unless we have a lot of PVA&M’s on the schedule. But, what a start.



I plan on delaying making a favorite player decision until the end of December. For one thing, I would like to see the team play a game. I presume someone will emerge by then and the decision will become clear.



I doubt we will see another offensive rebound game like this anytime soon.