Published Nov 12, 2022
Recap: Stanford MBB falls to Wisconsin in Brew City Battle
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Ben Parker  •  CardinalSportsReport
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On Friday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Wisconsin in the Brew City Battle at the Milwaukee Brewers’ home field by a final score of 60-50. Wisconsin senior forward Tyler Wahl led the way for the Badgers with 17 points & 5 rebounds while junior guard Jordan Davis had 13 points on 5-9 shooting from the field. Stanford junior forward Brandon Angel was the top performer for the Cardinal with 14 points and 3 rebounds on 5-11 shooting from the field. Wisconsin improves to 2-0 overall while Stanford falls to 1-1.

One of the big questions coming into the game for Stanford was the availability of senior forward Spencer Jones, who was held out of the opener against Pacific and was considered day-to-day. Jones was labeled a game time decision earlier in the day and shortly before tip-off it was later confirmed that he was available. Jones came off the bench and played 21 minutes, so it was clear that while available and able to play, he still wasn’t at full strength.

Wisconsin led 7-6 with 15:41 to go in the first half. Both teams were shooting 3-8 from the field. Michael O’Connell found Harrison Ingram for a nice bucket inside. Wisconsin was on a 2:37 scoring drought.

With 10:50 to go in the half, it was tied 14-14. Angel was leading the Cardinal with 4 points while Spencer Jones had a bucket inside. Wahl was leading Wisconsin with 4 points of his own. Wisconsin would then take a four point lead, going up 18-14 with 7:35 to go in the half. James Keefe missed an easy bucket inside for Stanford. One of the kind of shots you have to hit.

Wisconsin would lead 23-18 with 3:30 to go in the half. Wahl was leading the Badgers with 8 points on 4-6 shooting from the field while Spencer Jones was up to 6 points on 2-4 shooting from the field.

At halftime, Wisconsin led 32-20. Wahl was leading the way for the Badgers with 9 points on 4-7 shooting from the field and 1-2 shooting from the foul line. Spencer Jones was leading Stanford with 8 points and 3 rebounds. A big issue for Stanford was ball movement: 1 assist and 12 turnovers while Wisconsin had 6 assists and 3 turnovers. Stanford also was shooting 0-9 from 3-point range, clearly bothered by the dimensions of the floor being situated on a baseball field.

With 15:12 to go in the game, Wisconsin led 39-31 as Stanford was starting to settle in. The Cardinal offense was coming alive after a poor first half. Angel was up to 11 points on 4-5 shooting from the field. Stanford just needed to get some stops and keep up their offensive flow.

Wisconsin would lead 44-37 with 12:00 to go. Isa Silva got a nice hoop plus the harm and would head to the foul line after the time out. Stanford was looking much better with a 17-12 lead in the second half.

Wisconsin would continue to stay in front, up 45-40 with 7:27 to go. Ingram had a huge tip in while Angel’s 12 points led the Cardinal. Wahl’s 13 points was leading the way for the Badgers.

Wisconsin then pulled ahead to lead 51-41 with 3:44 to go. Stanford was playing much better in the second half, but it’s tough to win games on the road when you get off to the kind of start that they did. Wahl was leading the way for the Badgers with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Ingram was having another quiet offensive game for Stanford with 5 points, though he was making his presence felt on the glass with 7 rebounds.

In the end, Wisconsin would win 60-50 as Stanford wasn’t able to complete the comeback. Overall, this one went about as I expected it to go. I don’t care if they call this a neutral site game. Wisconsin was the home team and they definitely benefited from it. They were more settled in from the beginning of the game and then just in general, they played like a team that has NCAA tournament experience. Wisconsin deserved to win this game and did what they needed to do.

While this one didn’t go the way Stanford wanted, they did play better in the second half, winning 30-28. It was that poor first half that did them in. The combination of a tough environment and then not attacking the hole sooner. Stanford should have been more focused on going inside from the jump. This was not a good 3-point environment and they should have realized that sooner.

Up next for Stanford is a home game on Tuesday against San Diego State, who is currently ranked #19 in the nation. That will tipoff in the evening at 6:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.

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