No. 7 Michigan St. aims to slow No. 18 Wisconsin’s 3-point attack

During No. 18 Wisconsin’s blowout of UCLA in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals on Friday, the Badgers canned 19 of 32 shots from 3-point range.That tied the Big Ten tournament record for made 3-pointers in a game and also set up a delicious storyline for the Saturday semifinal between No. 7 Michigan State (27-5) and Wisconsin (25-8).The top-seeded Spartans rank second in the nation in 3-point percentage defense. Tom Izzo’s crew allows foes to hit just 27.8 percent from long range. That’s like taking a team that hit 19 of 32 3-pointers and turning them into a team that shoots 9 of 32.Ten more misses is a massive difference — and that’s why the fifth-seeded Badgers say they are going to resist the urge to try to repeat their Friday feat. That won’t be easy considering first-team all-Big Ten guard John Tonge (19.1 ppg, 39.8 3-point percentage) cashed all six of his 3-point attempts on his way to a game-high 26 points in 27 minutes against the Bruins.”I would say not to get jump-shot happy,” said Badgers senior point guard Kamari McGee, who hit all three of his 3-point tries vs. UCLA. “A lot of shots went down (Friday). I feel like we didn’t go into the paint enough at (Michigan State). I feel like we can really eat inside and find guys and spread. That’s where we can get our 3s from — inside-out.”If we just attack the paint more than we did in the last game, we’ll have better results.”Ah, yes. That’s the other fine storyline attached to the Saturday rematch.When Michigan State and Wisconsin met in the regular season on March 2, the Spartans claimed a 71-62 home win. But there’s an asterisk next to that result because it was the first time the Badgers played without fifth-year guard Max Klesmit, who missed the last three games of the regular season due to a leg injury.Although Klesmit (9.5 ppg) has not done a ton statistically since returning to Wisconsin’s lineup — he contributed a total of 12 points, four rebounds and three assists during the Badgers’ Big Ten tournament wins over Northwestern and UCLA — his presence completes Wisconsin’s rotation.”It doesn’t just affect Max when he missed (those games),” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. “It was the shifting, so to speak, of the seats on the bus that happened. When we’re whole and we’ve got all our people, we’re a pretty good team.”

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