Koenig leads the Badgers over Central Arkansas

By Marlon WhiteEagle



The Wisconsin Badgers opened the 2016-2017 season against non-conference opponent Central Arkansas Bears. Bronson Koenig led the Badgers over Central Arkansas with a game high 16 points.
Nigel Hayes scored 14 points, and Zak Showalter added 10 points for the Badgers who scored in double figures.
Koenig started the season needing 71 points and 27 assists to reach 1,000 points and 250 assists; only 14 other Badgers have reached that mark.
Bronson was proud of the Badger defense.
“We showed a lot of promise and a flash of pretty good defense. We had that shot clock violation on them,” Koenig said.
“The only had 8 offensive rebound.”
Coach Gard talked about the Badgers 3-point shooting. The Badgers shot nearly 38 percent from behind the arc.
“That’s 33 points on 29 possessions. That hits our benchmark on points per possession,” Gard said.
“We were opportunistic on what the defense gave us.”
 Coach Gard also talked about the point guard play of Bronson Koenig.
“Koenig’s point guard play was pretty good. He pushed the ball pretty well in the second half. I don’t worry about his confidence,” Gard said.
“He’s committed to making himself a very good player.”
Wisconsin outscored the Bears 14 to 8 points in the paint, and the Badger bench had 12 points to the Bears bench’s 5 points.
Wisconsin was able to keep the Bears from getting into any kind of rhythm. Wisconsin size and physicality proved too much for Central Arkansas. The final score was 79 to 47.
Wisconsin falls to Creighton
On November 15, the #9 ranked Badgers fell to #22 ranked Creighton at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska during the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
The Badgers shot only 41 percent from the field, while Creighton was 50 percent from the field.
Defensively, Creighton double-teamed Ethan Happ in the paint, forcing the Badgers to shoot 39 3-point shots.
The Badgers were 8 of 25 from behind the arc in first half, and 3 of 14 in the second half. That’s 28 percent from 3-point range for the Badgers.
The Badgers were 4 of 5 from the free throw line, shooting 80 percent from the line.
Creighton had four players in double figures.
Creighton’s Maurice Watson Jr. scored 7 of his 17 points from the free throw line.
Overall, Creighton was 15 of 22 from the charity stripe.
Bronson Koenig scored a game high 21 points for the Badgers, while Nigel Hayes scored 16 points.
Badgers lost by 12 points to Creighton, 67 to 79.
Badgers handle Chicago State Cougars
On November 17, the Wisconsin Badgers handled the Chicago State Cougars at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Badgers looked like a well-oiled and well-balanced scoring team against Chicago State. They shot 20 times from inside 3-point range, 19 times from 3-point range, and 19 times from the free throw line.
The Badgers outscored the Cougars 34 to 10 in the paint. Vitto Brown, Khalil Iverson, Ethan Happ, and Bronson Koenig led the charge for the Badgers on the inside.
Brown, Iverson, and Koenig were the three Badgers in double figures. Vitto Brown had a season high 12 points.
Ethan Happ added 8 points and a game high 7 rebounds for Wisconsin.
The Badgers won 69 to 51 over Chicago State.
Next up, the Badgers fly out to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.


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