by By ROB SCHULTZ The Capital Times rschultz@madison.com , Wisconsin State Journal

It's all part of that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that players from NCAA Division III schools get during these exhibition games. But that didn't happen during the Badgers' 80-47 victory over the Yellowjackets before an announced crowd of 17,230 Wednesday night.

While that may raise eyebrows and signal another long season for Superior in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, it was a very good sign for the Badgers, who use hustle and energy as parts of their recipe for success in the Big Ten Conference.

"That's the only way to play," UW coach Bo Ryan said. "That's the only thing we accept."

The Badgers did almost everything they were supposed to do in their tune-up to their season opener Sunday against Indiana University Purdue University-Fort Wayne (IPFW) at the Kohl Center.

Besides winning virtually every hustle play, the Badgers owned a significant size advantage and used it to own a 50-14 advantage in points in the paint. The biggest beneficiaries were junior forwards Keaton Nankivil, who led all scorers with 16 points, and Jon Leuer, who had 14 points and seven rebounds.

Leuer expects the Badgers to have more of an inside presence than last season.

"We're not there yet, obviously," he said. "Even tonight we struggled with finishing around the basket. But we're getting there and I think that's the biggest difference from last year to this year."

But it wasn't just the big men making plays for the Badgers, who enjoyed a 24-6 assists-to-turnovers advantage and had 15 steals.

Senior guard Trevon Hughes was dominant and finished close to a triple-double with nine points, nine assists, 10 steals and no turnovers while fellow senior guard Jason Bohannon finished with 14 points, six assists, four steals and a block.

These exhibition games are usually a series of little nuggets of good play by the Badgers. Hughes never stopped coming up with them.

Some of his highlights included diving on the floor to take control of a steal and feeding Bohannon for a layup and then, on the next possession, driving hard to the hoop and getting the bucket with a nifty move.

Hughes also consistently stifled the Yellowjackets' attack. He was particularly effective guarding Superior point guard Dwight Hill, who finished with seven points on 2-for-8 shooting. He also had no assists and four turnovers.

"A lot of those 10 steals weren't directly on the player in front of him," Ryan said. "He got the steals on loose balls and being active. So that means we're playing hard."

Hughes said the Badgers' depth at the guard positions has helped him focus more on attacking teams with a non-stop high effort.

"There's nothing for me to worry about but just go out and lay my body out for the team," he said. "That's what I didn't do last year and it hurt."

The only negative for the Badgers was their shooting performance. They shot 47.1 percent overall (32 of 68) and 15.8 percent from 3-point range (3-for-19).

"We're going to need to shoot it a little better from the outside, but when you're not you still have to get to the free throw and you still have to touch the post. And we did that. So we didn't get away from sound basketball," Ryan said.

Nankivil believes the Badgers are more prepared for the start of the season than they were last year.

"I think the way we played these two games is a big difference from how we played the exhibitions last year as far as confidence and playing as a team goes,'' he said. "I think you can see we are a little more ready to attack the season than we were last year.'' Hughes concurred. "I think we're more focused this year. We're hungry," he said.

UW-SUPERIOR min fg-a ft-a rb pf a to pt Smith 26 1-10 2-2 3 2 4 7 4 Helland 31 5-10 0-0 8 1 1 3 12 Roeder 16 1-1 0-0 1 0 0 1 2 Culy 32 3-13 0-0 5 3 1 6 7 Hill 22 2-8 2-2 2 3 0 4 7 Aalfs 19 3-6 0-0 8 1 1 0 7 Corry 4 0-1 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 Bohaty 3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 Davis 7 0-3 0-0 2 1 0 1 0 Bauer 6 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Ritchie 10 1-2 2-3 1 3 0 1 4 Pierce 3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 Skoglund 14 0-1 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 Tellijohn 5 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 Byrne 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 200 18-58 6-7 39 16 8 24 47 Wisconsin min fg-a ft-a rb pf a to pt Jarmusz 21 2-4 1-1 3 0 0 0 5 Leuer 18 7-11 0-0 7 1 2 0 14 Nankivil 18 7-11 1-1 4 0 2 0 16 Hughes 28 4-9 1-1 2 2 9 0 9 Bohannon 32 5-12 2-2 6 2 6 2 14 Smith 3 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Evans 21 4-10 0-0 8 2 1 2 8 Fahey 3 1-2 0-0 1 0 0 0 2 Taylor 14 1-6 1-2 1 2 2 0 3 Valentyn 3 1-2 0-0 1 0 0 0 2 Bruesewitz 9 0-2 3-4 2 1 0 2 3 Wilson 17 2-3 0-0 2 1 1 0 4 Berggren 9 0-1 0-0 2 0 1 0 0 Gavinski 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Markolf 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 200 34-75 9-11 44 12 24 6 80 Totals include team rebounds and turnovers UW-Superior 24 23 - 47 Wisconsin 42 38 - 80 3-point goals - UWS 5-20 (Helland 2-4, Aalfs 1-2, Culy 1-4, Hill 1-4, Bohaty 0-1, Davis 0-1, Ritchie 0-1, Skoglund 0-1, Smith 0-2), W 3-19 (Bohannon 2-8, Nankivil 1-2, Wilson 0-1, Evans 0-1, Taylor 0-2, Jarmusz 0-2, Hughes 0-3).

Field goal percentages - UWS .310, W .453.

Free throw percentages - UWS .857, W .818.

Steals - UWS 5 (Roeder, Culy, Aalfs, Corry, Skoglund 1), W 15 (Hughes 10, Bohannon 4, Nankivil 1).

Blocked shots - UWS 3 (Davis 2, Byrne 1), W 5 (Evans 3, Bohannon 1, Leuer 1).

Att. - 17,230.

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