Takeaway from the second game of men’s basketball in Wisconsin in France | Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball

The Badgers beat the Lyon Towers 80-68 and four players scored over 10 points. Lyon Towers is a French team made up of all-stars in Lyon, with an average age of 26.6 years.

“The competition is more physical here,” Chuckie Hepburn, a sophomore from the University of Washington, said in an interview published by the University of Wisconsin. “You can play with your body a lot more, and that’s what we love. We love physicality. We will have a lot of lessons in the season, and we will be able to face a lot of physical teams.”

Here are three notes from the stats paper.

Jared said after Wednesday’s game that he plans to mess with the squad, and he’s delivered on his promises. Hepburn, Jordan Davis, Carter Gilmore, Stephen Kroll, and Conor Issigian started Badgers.

Kamari McGee, Tyler Wahl, Max Clismet, Chris Hodges and Marcus Elver were in the second five-man squad, with Isaac Lindsay rotating as needed.

“It’s fun to see some of the new guys out there,” Hepburn said. “Some of the guys who didn’t play last year are out there, like Isaac Lindsey, Chris Hodges and Conor Issigian. It’s definitely fun seeing them out there and competing at a high level.”

Friday was the second straight start in France for Davis, Hepburn and Crawle. Wahl, a starting player in all but one game last season, was injured on Friday.

Jared worked at Essegian on Wednesday, but the freshman was a key part of the squad on Friday.

Friday’s stats did not include minutes of play.

Eight Badgers players hit 3-pointers against Leon Towers. The stats paper didn’t include shooting percentages, but 39 of the 80 UW points come from outside the arc.

Issigian was UW’s second-best scorer with 11 points, nine of which came with three throws. He scored the most shots from depth, and Hepburn, Elver and Lindsey each had two.

“It’s definitely just guys individually, just doing individual work,” Hepburn said. “The gyms are late at night, early in the morning, so I credit that to them. Then credit it to the coaches for giving us the opportunity to be able to practice our shots and create a lot more space for those shots as well.”

Essegian, a new goalkeeper, did not score in the Badgers’ first game in France. He was recruited because of his skills as a sniper.

It was an ongoing trend for the UW to struggle out of the 3-point range last season. She averaged 30.6% of the 3-point range with only 6.5 per game. It’s a different level of competition, but the UW averages 12.5 three-pointers per game in France. The Badgers fired 44.4% against Paris Towers on Wednesday.

Crowl is one of the two UW players to score more than 10 points in both games this week after scoring 11 points on Friday and 13 in the opener. The 7-footer, who averaged 8.8 points last season as he acclimatized to his role as a center back, had at least a 2-inch height advantage over all the other players on Friday.

Hepburn scored 10 points, including two three-pointers. It is his second game in a row where he has more than one shot from outside the arc.

Wall was shocked from the starting position, but the young striker scored 12 points in the squad on Friday after scoring eight against Paris Towers. On Wednesday he didn’t try 3 pointers but made one against Leon Towers.

The Badgers are back in action against the Lion Towers at noon Madison time on Saturday.