UW basketball notes: Penney happy for all the help

Capital Times

By Rob Schultz

November 13, 2001

 

Kirk Penney knows there will be more games ahead for him like Saturday night's exhibition opener.

 

The University of Wisconsin men's basketball team's junior guard didn't take his first shot until the midway point of the first half.

 

The EA Sports All-Stars contrived a defense that many teams likely will use. They double-teamed Penney and forced other Badgers to beat them.

 

The Badgers did just that as freshman guard Devin Harris took advantage of the attention Penney was receiving by scoring 22 points during a 95-65 victory. Another freshman, 6-8 forward Mike Wilkinson, added 19.

 

That suited Penney, who finished with 12 points, just fine.

 

"I thought it was good to get a feel out for what it's going to be like," said the 6-foot-5 Penney, a sharpshooter who is the Badgers' leading returning scorer. "First and foremost, it was absolutely awesome to see Devin and Mike really expose the openings that were out there.

 

"I can just be on the court and play as hard as I can, and if they are going to get those great looks, that's terrific."

 

Penney, who took just eight shots against EA Sports, said it was hard to gauge from the first game just how difficult it will be for him to score this season.

 

"I'm not taking a whole lot from it," he said.

 

Penney also had mixed success trying to post up his defender. He has bulked up physically during the off-season so he can better exploit opponents inside the 3-point arc.

 

"I got down there a few times to see what it was like," he said. "I'd never been down there in a real setting before and was trying to find a comfort level."

 

Another Olympian: Penney, who played for his native New Zealand in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, won't be the only Olympian on the floor tonight.

 

AIA point guard David Daniels was a member of the 2000 Canadian team. Another AIA player who might be familiar is 6-8 forward Ronnie Grandison, who played in the NBA for 10 years.

 

Others to watch on AIA include 6-1 guard Damian Long. The former Harvard player scored 19 points during AIA's 88-83 overtime loss to Kentucky Sunday night. Derek Grimm, a 6-9 forward, added 17 points, grabbed a team-high 6 rebounds and

had 6 assists and no turnovers against the Wildcats.

 

See 'em now: After tonight's game, the Badgers won't play at home again until Dec. 1 when they face UW-Green Bay. By that time, the young Badgers will be seasoned veterans.

 

They open their regular season Saturday night at Nevada-Las Vegas, then head for Hawaii and the Big Island Basketball Invitational in Hilo.

 

The Badgers will play Hawaii-Hilo in their tournament opener that starts at 11:30 p.m. CST) on Friday, Nov. 23. They then will meet either Louisiana State or Weber State on Saturday, Nov. 24. Finally, they will play one of four teams in the other bracket of the tournament on Sunday, Nov. 25. Those teams include

Colorado State, South Carolina State, Mercer and Hawaii.

 

The Badgers' road swing to start the season ends when they play at Georgia Tech on Nov. 28 in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game.