The lone bright spot for IU against No. 13 Wisconsin was freshman forward De’ron Davis.
Battling Wisconsin’s sophomore forward Ethan Happ down low all game long, Davis more than held his own against last season’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
However, Davis’s 12 points were not enough to help IU avoid losing its third straight game as Wisconsin won 75-68 Tuesday at Simon Skojdt Assembly Hall.
After IU struggles from three lingered from the Louisville game, the Hoosiers desperately needed someone to depend on to score on the offensive end. Davis was that offensive rudder for many stretches of Tuesday's game after IU shooters went five-of-15 from beyond the arc.
Davis was a force down low, attacking Wisconsin’s defense with his wide array of post moves. For a freshman, he has the strength to get the rim and has a variety of ways to contort his body to score. When he didn’t get the ball to go in, Davis was able to draw enough contact to head to the line.
The freshman missed the entire summer after needing to take care of academics back home, putting him behind in his conditioning. As the season has progressed, he has been able to play more for the Hoosiers and in longer spurts.
“He’s effective,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “He’s getting in better shape. We told him two months ago by January you’re going to feel like a totally different player. He’s starting to do that.”
His ability to make room in the post was what was working so well for the freshman agasint the Badgers.
“Just being strong,” Davis said. “Being strong in the post. Carving out space and just attacking the basket.”
Against Wisconsin, it wasn’t until the Badgers started to double-team him that he was really stymied. His minutes were critical for IU as sophomore forward Thomas Bryant was in foul trouble and was mostly ineffective against Wisconsin only scoring six points.
Happ – who went off against IU last season for 25 points – had 19 points Wednesday, but was held in check for the most part whenever Davis was in the game.
Davis was also one of IU’s best players in Saturday’s loss to Louisville where he had eight points and eight rebounds in just 18 minutes. In that game, he struggled around the basket and missed seven shots, a lot of them from point blank.
After the Louisville game, Crean talked after that how he wanted to see Davis finish better, but he said that Davis’s performance was something to build on.
Since not scoring in the loss against Fort Wayne, Davis has scored in all 11 games since and has scored in double figures three times in that stretch. Picking up more playing time as the season as developed, Davis has started to deliver a consistent low-post presence for the Hoosiers.
Feeding Davis inside has now emerged as another successful way for IU to effectively score, especially with the three-point shoot not falling.
“I said to the team, I’m not a big half-full, half-empty guy, but you’ve got to find some guidelines with this,” Crean said. “We can play a lot of different ways.”
