Badger Stars Shine, but Others Struggle

So far this basketball season there has been one constant. The play of John Leuer and Jordan Taylor, but the play of the supporting cast has been hit and miss. On Saturday against South Dakota the Badgers stars hit, but the others missed.

On an afternoon when the Badgers started off strong against the Coyotes it was the lack of an ability to close out South Dakota that was the most troubling. After jumping out to an early "" lead the Badgers seemed to have trouble pulling away. Mostly because the production from the supporting cast that was there against NC State was absent against South Dakota.

The highest scorer of the supporting cast was starting forward Mike Bruesewitz with eight points. As for the rest it...was an abysmal night from the floor. Especially for senior forward Keaton Nankivil. Who only played seven minutes and failed to record a point.

His counterpart on the front line on the other hand had a career night. Leuer was on fire to say the least against a smaller South Dakota team. Leading to his career high 29 points on Saturday afternoon, and accounting for almost 40% of the teams scoring.

The vast majority of the rest came from Jordan Taylor. With 20 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists Taylor put together a career night of his own. Not to mention needing just one more assist to become the first Badger ever to record a triple-double.

While the stars appear to be bright at this moment, the progress of the supporting cast is still coming along slowly. And with the yearly match-up against Marquette just around the corner the production from the supporting cast will need to get better, and perhaps find the illusive third scorer this team is looking for.