Wisconsin’s second exhibition trip comes with a short drive north and a slightly stiffer test.
Five days after the Badgers opened their preseason with a 94-71 win over UW-Parkside, they head to Green Bay to face the Phoenix tonight at the Resch Center at 6:30 p.m. It’s a familiar series overall - Wisconsin is 27-1 against Green Bay and 3-1 in games played there - but this will be the first exhibition meeting between the programs, the first matchup since 2022, and the first time they’ve met in Green Bay since 2013. Doug Gottlieb’s Phoenix are coming off a second season that finished 18-15 and ended with a third-place league finish.
The Badgers’ frontcourt is the most obvious place to start.
Wisconsin’s attack leaned heavily on guards last season, but this group looks built around size inside. Saturday’s numbers against Parkside were helped by the matchup, yet the production still jumped off the page: plus-14 on the boards, 56 points in the paint, 18 in transition and 22-for-29 finishing around the rim. Nolan Winter, Victory Onuetu and Will Garlock all scored in double figures and grabbed at least six rebounds, even with Austin Rapp out of the mix.
Garlock, in particular, has taken a noticeable step. A player known more for passing than scoring, he had never gone above five points in a game before Saturday.
Against Parkside, he posted 10 points, six rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal in 22 minutes. Working against the shot-blocking Onuetu all summer seems to have sharpened him, and associate head coach Joe Krabbenhoft said Tuesday, "I think his confidence has grown in every aspect of his game, of his life, just being in college and growing up a little bit over the last 18 months," associate head coach Joe Krabbenhoft said Tuesday.
"It's been a lot of fun to watch."
That pair gives Wisconsin a different look in the lane - bigger, longer and tougher to move than this program has typically been.
Green Bay should offer more resistance there. The Phoenix have six players listed at 6-7 or taller, and five of them are new to Gottlieb’s roster this season.
Ne'Quan Brown and Aidan Holloway stand out among that group. Brown averaged 15 points and 6.8 rebounds at North Idaho College while shooting 48.2 percent, while Hadaway put up 14.4 points, a team-best 7.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists for Ohio, along with 23 blocks and a 48.6 percent shooting mark.
Defense is the other big thing to monitor for Wisconsin.
Last season’s team could overwhelm opponents offensively, and the staff was willing to live with some slippage at the other end to keep that engine humming. After the NCAA Tournament loss to High Point, that tradeoff was no longer acceptable. The Badgers worked in the portal to find two-way help, but they also needed their returnees to set the tone defensively.
Against Parkside, that showed up. Wisconsin held the Rangers under 40 percent shooting and just over 25 percent from three, while allowing only 13 turnovers and generally making the game difficult on that end.
Krabbenhoft said, "We had to get back to our roots defensively, without sacrificing anything on offense," Krabbenhoft said. "I don't think that should be a thing.
It's not like we're continuing to go backwards. We're going to continue to push the ball, shoot threes, and get at the rim, but really dialing up that defensive intensity."
Green Bay brings back one proven scorer in Marcus Hall, who was a preseason first-team All-Horizon League guard after averaging 13.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 40.6 percent from three.
There was also some expected early-season sloppiness in Wisconsin’s first outing. With 12 players rotated through the game and half the lineup making its first appearance in a Wisconsin uniform, the Badgers never quite found full offensive rhythm.
They turned it over 15 times on 73 possessions, a rate of 20.5 percent, though the defense limited those mistakes to seven points. Owen Foxwell tied Garlock for the team lead with four turnovers, and the staff expects that number to come down as he settles in as the lead guard.
Zach Kinziger is still adjusting to the backup role, but Foxwell is clearly the point guard Wisconsin will lean on.
In Other News...
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The encouraging part for Wisconsin is that the improvement has not come only from the familiar names. Backup linemen like Ryan Cory and Stylz Blackmon have taken meaningful steps forward, giving the staff more confidence in the depth behind the starters. The lines progress has been gradual, and it has come in the middle of constant adjustment, but it has also opened the door to a more functional offense than Wisconsin had last season. [Read more 🡒]