As Penney goes, so goes UW

 

The junior swingman is at the forefront as the Badgers find

their comfort zone.

 

By Vic Feuerherd

Wisconsin State Journal

Dec. 29, 2001

 

Is it mere coincidence that the more comfortable Kirk Penney gets with coach Bo Ryan’s offense, the more comfortable the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team looks?

 

Not likely.

 

Penney, a junior swingman, came into the season as a marked man for opposing defenses.  But as the Badgers (6-6) prepare to face Tennessee today at the Kohl Center, he is setting

the mark for an improving UW attack.

 

“I think we all feel more comfortable,” Penney said after scoring 29 points in Thursday night’s 81-79 win at UW-Milwaukee.

 

 “We’re making the right reads. We’re hitting the open guys and making the extra pass.

That’s attributable to guys getting open, and it happens to be me, lately.  The other guys could step up and do the same thing.”

 

It’s interesting that Penney brings a hot hand into today’s game against the Volunteers (5-5).  In last season’s opener at Tennessee, Penney missed all 13 of his shots in the Badgers’ 66-56 loss.

 

 “Hopefully they’ll look at that tape from last year and not look at the last three games,” he said with a smile.

 

If Penney’s teammates step up and do what he has done in the past three games, UW might not even need to play defense. There is every indication that as Penney

goes, so go the Badgers.

 

Penney has averaged 27.7 points per game in his last three games on some remarkable shooting—27-for-47 overall (57.4 percent) and 12-for-21 from beyond the 3-point line (57.1 percent)—and has raised his scoring average from 10 points to 14.6. Even better, his teammates have followed his lead, hitting 52 of 102 shots overall (51 percent) and nine of 24 3-point shots (37.9 percent).

 

 “I’m just trying to get whatever looks I can,” Penney said.  “If that opens it up for other players, great.  If it’s there for me, super.  Either way, it doesn’t really matter.”

 

That is a nice, team chemistry sort of thing for Penney to say.  But the statistics say it does matter.  Penney has averaged 20.3 points per game in UW victories on 36-for-67 shooting from the field (53.7 percent).   In the losses, he has just 38.6 percent overall (27-for-70).

 

Three of UW’s victories have come while Penney has scorched the nets.  What distinguishes this stretch from the first nine games is that Penney is taking advantage of the inside position he often finds himself in in Ryan’s offense.  Penney has even started to name some of his moves in the low post.

 

“You mean the little rump shaker?” he answered when asked about his low-post moves.

 

“There still are a couple of moves in there where I don’t get the angles quite right, so there is still work to be done down there.  But I am getting more comfortable down there and I have to keep building on that.  Make the ones I should make and then make a few other plays off the dribble down there.

 

“You get sort of a rhythm when you’re posting up.  It’s a different feeling, but it’s a good one.”

 

The Badgers are enjoying that feeling, too.