Wisconsin Basketball Red-White Scrimmage: Big Takeaways from Defensive Struggle

Madison, WI - Sunday afternoon basketball became a lopsided affair in the second half of the annual Wisconsin basketball Red-White Scrimmage. Team Red outscored Team White by 13 in the final 20 minutes to walk away with a 64-43 victory.

As indicated by the final score, it was an afternoon largely dominated by defense. Red shot 45.9% from the floor and 35% on threes, while White struggled mightily. The White squad connected on only 32.6% of its 46 shots and made a mere five of its 20 attempts from beyond the arc.

Shots not falling from deep jumps out from the box score, but was presence on the interior that told the story of the exhibition.

Wisconsin Basketball Team Red Defends Paint in Intra-Squad Scrimmage

Badgers head coach Greg Gard has long emphasized post scoring and post defense. When asked Sunday how he evaluated his point guards' play, he immediately mentioned facilitating play on the interior saying, "you look at which team touched the post the most."

In this case, it was Team Red which, led by point guard Kamari McGee, outscored White 36-14 in the paint.

As guard Max Klesmit said for Team White, "it's also easier if you got Steven Crowl down there" defending the paint and providing a dominating presence on offense. Klesmit did not absolve his squad of responsibility for the disparity in interior scoring though.

Related: Wisconsin Basketball Red-White Scrimmage: What to Watch For

The Neenah, Wisconsin native mentioned his teams need to "continue to attack the front of the rim" and that they "probably could have done a better job feeding our '4s' and '5s."

With shots not falling for Team White, they certainly did not attack the rim how they would have needed to. As a team that made only 25% of its three-pointers, it needed more interior scoring. Klesmit, whose nine three-point attempts would be the second-most he has ever attempted in a game in a Wisconsin basketball uniform, even admitted "I know I probably put up a good amount of threes."

Riccardo Greppi Does the Little Things in First Half of Wisconsin Basketball Scrimmage

After a few open practices and now an open scrimmage, freshman center Riccardo Greppi had his best public performance to date. Even Klesmit remarked, when asked what stood out to him on Sunday, that the Lecco, Italy native is "finally finding his way."

Although Greppi only added a modest two points, two rebounds, and three assists in 22 minutes, he did several little things well on the court - especially in the first half.

The six-foot-ten-inch Greppi held his own defending the much more experienced Steven Crowl. Whether jostling for position in the low post, or defending the rim with some help from sophomore Nolan Winter, Greppi showed he would not simply be outclassed in the Big Ten.

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Offensively, he can be a playmaker. In earlier preseason practices, it appeared Greppi was sometimes struggling to position himself just right on ball screens. That was no problem Sunday. On one possession, the Team Verona product set a perfeclty-placed high ball screen for freshman guard Daniel Freitag. As a result, Freitag got free of his defender, Jack Janicki, and drained a mid-range bucket.

Not long afterward, Greppi executed a high-low action with his frontcourt partner, Winter. From just beyond the three-point line at the top of the key, Greppi tallied an assist by feeding Winter down low. The very next possession, Greppi ran back on defense and blocked a layup attempt by McGee.

Although Greppi appeared a bit winded in the second half, especially just before he was subbed out of the lineup, he showed flashes in the first half that should inspire confidence in himself.

Related: Wisconsin Basketball Will Look Different This Year; Media Day Takeaways

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