5 thoughts from Wisconsin basketball's victory vs. Maryland
More on Nolan Winter's injury but a shining performance
MADISON, Wis. — The good vibes inside the Kohl Center on Wednesday quickly gave way to silence with a key University of Wisconsin basketball big man on the floor.
Forward Nolan Winter, who’s emerged with a strong junior campaign for Wisconsin this season, ran from the top of the key and converted an impressive put-back shot that gave the Badgers a 29-point lead with just over 7 minutes remaining in the second half. But he fell to the floor in pain after he landed and eventually needed assistance off the court in not putting any weight on his left leg.
Winter’s emerged as a pivotal contributor to Wisconsin his junior season, as he was averaging 13.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game entering Wednesday’s penultimate regular season contest. There wasn’t a definitive update from Badgers coach Greg Gard after Wisconsin (21-9, 13-6 Big Ten) came away with a 78-45 victory over Maryland (11-19, 4-15).
“I think we’ll know more tomorrow,” Gard said. “Early indications, hopefully we avoided the worst. We’ll see where everything with the testing and stuff goes tomorrow and evaluation goes tomorrow. They will know more in 24 hours or so.
“But obviously he hasn’t rolled that ankle. That’s the other one that’s been, so always when you do that the first time, there’s always an extra amount of pain. But we’ll see. He was in decent spirits in the locker room and stuff. So he’s already doing treatment, and we’ll see what we learn tomorrow, and then have a path forward to getting healed up."
Let’s get to thoughts from the win, which included plenty of senior highlights. Be sure to also check out all the postgame availability here.
Braeden Carrington was once again electrifying
The Terrapins went up 10-8 at the 11:46 mark of the first half after a David Coit layup, but Wisconsin answered by outscoring Maryland 26-11 before heading into the locker room.
Carrington scored 13 points in that final stretch before intermission, and it would have been 16 if his last-second shot before halftime got off before the buzzer. He finished with a game-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting and received a standing ovation when exiting the game with just over 3 minutes remaining.
“He’s comfortable in the flow,” Gard said. “I mean, he’s aggressive. He got to the rim. I thought he did a really good job defensively. We had to really keep track of (forward Elijah) Saunders. He got loose on us a few times, so all the switching that gets involved to try to shut that off. So that component, but obviously once he gets a couple to go in, then he’s gonna heat check a couple maybe.
“But just his teammates do a good job of finding him. (Andrew) Rohde found him in transition, kind of flipping behind him in the first half, down in front of their bench. And teammates know to look for him and to find him. And he also has the confidence that he missed the first couple, and I gave him a little run that brought him out and then put him back in. And you still got to have that confidence to keep shooting, keep letting it fly.”
Carrington’s averaged 11.9 points in his last 15 games dating back to the road win at Michigan, and he’s now shooting 42.8% on 3-point attempts.
