Iowa and Wisconsin used their final nonconference games to work on their rotations and get reserve players some important work.
The Big Ten rivals are hoping it pays off when Wisconsin hosts Iowa to resume conference action Friday night in Madison, Wis.
Iowa (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten) blew past New Hampshire 112-70 on Monday, the Hawkeyes’ third time exceeding 100 points this season. Six players scored in double figures, including a pair of key reserves in Seydou Traore and Cooper Koch.
Traore played just his second game of December due to an ankle injury. Koch, a freshman, missed nearly a month with an undisclosed injury and is still working his way back into the fold. Both players set season highs with 14 points against New Hampshire.
“I wanted to get, in particular, Coop and Seydou substantial playing time, get them back comfortable,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said postgame.
Traore, a forward, added a team-high six assists, a useful skill for him to have in Iowa’s up-tempo offense.
“That’s what makes him special … he makes plays for other people,” McCaffery said. “Whether it be in transition, whether he’s facing up or whether he goes (to his) back-down game. He’s incredibly unselfish (and) he’s got great vision.”
Owen Freeman, Iowa’s leading scorer and rebounder (17.1 points per game, 6.5 rebounds), missed Monday’s game with a lower leg injury but is expected back Friday.
Wisconsin (10-3, 0-2) used 12 players for at least five minutes in a 76-53 home win over Detroit Mercy on Dec. 22. The Badgers haven’t played since, enjoying a nearly two-week holiday break between games.
“It was good to be able to play and go really deep into the bench for some pretty substantial minutes,” Badgers coach Greg Gard said. “I think that’ll help not only those individuals, but us collectively going forward, because we’re going to continue to need all the help we can get.”
Kamari McGee is Wisconsin’s leading bench scorer at 6.2 points per game. He’s made half his 3-point attempts (12 of 24).
But the Badgers lean on their starting lineup of John Tonje (19.2 points), John Blackwell (14.2), Max Klesmit (11.2), Nolan Winter (11.2 points, 6.0 rebounds) and Steven Crowl (8.8 points, 5.2 rebounds). The latter two are listed at 7 feet.
They’ll look for better results than they had in December conference games against Michigan and Illinois, which they lost by a combined nine points. Iowa also lost to Michigan last month but beat Northwestern 80-79 in its conference opener.
–Field Level Media
