MADSION, Wis. -- Trevon Bluiett took some time to thaw on a chilly night at Wisconsin’s Kohl Center, which gave his No. 15 Xavier team some space Thursday to show it has the veteran poise and the requisite accessories to stoke some serious optimism this season.
It took 24 minutes for Bluiett to bury his first field goal of the game, but once he found his rhythm, the Badgers were in trouble. He ended with a game-high 25 points, including two 3-pointers in the space of 40 seconds to break a late tie and suck the life from an arena that felt like it had skipped a few pages on the calendar.
“He’s one of the best players in the country, so if he comes out to a not so hot start I have extreme confidence that he’s going to heat up,” fellow senior guard J.P. Macura said after Xavier's 80-70 victory. “And he usually does.”
Macura, who has started 40 consecutive games for the Musketeers, carried a good chunk of the weight before his teammates got comfortable. He found a litany of creative ways to get to the basket against a defense Wisconsin coach Greg Gard deemed “too porous” at times. Macura (20 points, 8 rebounds) had plenty to do with opening those pores.
Xavier’s big men had success in the paint early as well. Kaiser Gates knocked down a pair of important shots from behind the arc in the first half to give his team its first significant breathing room. Four Musketeers players came into Thursday night’s game averaging double-digit points per game, and four of them hit that mark against Wisconsin, easily the stiffest defensive test Xavier has faced on its way to 3-0.
Depth and versatility, along with a couple free throws late in the first half, gave Bluiett all he needed to settle into the game without pressing as his early shots failed to fall.
“I don’t really stress over my production level because I know we’re a pretty deep team,” he said. “I know when it’s not my night somebody else is going to pick up my slack.”
All-America candidate Ethan Happ provided the spark that kept Wisconsin (2-1) on the verge of a major early-season victory in the second half. After not getting a call he wanted under the hoop with about six minutes to play, he went on a tear.
Happ knocked down two baskets (the second of which put him over the 1,000-point mark for his college career), forced a turnover and then found Aleem Ford alone outside the 3-point line for one of his eight assists on a bucket that tied the game at 64.
Happ, too, had some help. He watched from the bench as a lineup of four underclassmen and a role-playing junior closed out the first half on a 9-0 run that should help an inexperienced Badgers team build some confidence.
Afterward, Happ said he felt like a coach when mentioning how proud he was of his cubs. The Badgers' actual coach would have preferred a victory, but knows there are positives to take away from Thursday's game.
“This is good for our guys. This is a great experience, what they do with it will show how fast we can grow,” said Gard, who has to get his team ready for another visit from a ranked opponent when Baylor comes to town Monday (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
Xavier coach Chris Mack credited his team’s wealth of experience in close games with being the difference-maker against Wisconsin and what Macura deemed the loudest arena he can remember. Macura and many of his teammates were on the squad that saw its 2015-16 season end against Wisconsin a win short of the Sweet 16, on a Bronson Koenig buzzer-beater. That provided a little extra juice to this meeting, but having played in games like this one helped provide a little extra poise down the stretch.
Wisconsin will likely reap the benefits of Thursday's experience down the road. Xavier showed it already knows how to win such taut games, even when its star isn’t at his best, which bodes well for playing in more of them as the season unfolds.