Freshman Davison shines as UW finishes tour Down Under at 4-1

Special to the Journal Sentinel

SYDNEY, Australia - For the fifth consecutive game, the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team had a different leading scorer on its overseas tour Down Under.

And for the fifth consecutive time, that leading scorer's name wasn't Ethan Happ.

Freshman guard Brad Davison scored 23 points as the Badgers beat the Sydney Kings, 83-71, on Tuesday night to finish 4-1 on their exhibition tour.

Happ did score 15 points against the Kings and finished the trip averaging 12.0 points per game. The preseason All-American also tallied nine rebounds, seven assists and four steals against Syndey.

"I think the different leading scorers shows the diversity of this team and how we can get production from a lot of different ways," UW coach Greg Gard said. "The potential of this group is what has the coaching staff so excited."

D'Mitrik Trice poured in 16 points against the Kings to go with four rebounds and four assists. He was one of four Badgers to average double figures on the tour, finishing with 12.4 points per game. He was closely followed by Happ's 12.0, as well as 11.4 from Brevin Pritzl and 11.2 from Davison.

"My teammates did a great job of finding me in open spots and I did my best to create open opportunities for everyone on the floor," Davison said. "I've been working on my shot this week, so it felt good to see some go in."

Wisconsin trailed, 55-50, midway through the third quarter before Davison capped a 9-2 run with a driving layup, giving the Badgers a 59-57 lead. Davison later helped UW extend the lead to 74-62 with 5 minutes remaining, scoring eight consecutive points on back-to-back three-pointers and another bucket inside.

"We've gotten contributions from a lot of different areas," Gard said. "I've seen some guys that are new to the program take big steps here in the last 10 days that we've been here.

"I've also seen guys that have been in the program take big steps forward. I think we were able to accomplish and get out of this trip what we wanted to get out of it. "