Round 2: Wisconsin aims to contain Oregon's explosive scorer Young
OMAHA, Neb. -- Oregon guard Joseph Young paused. He stared. He smiled. And then he sounded like a man who truly had no knowledge of Wisconsin guard Josh Gasser -- a three-time all-Big Ten defender -- as though he was nothing more than a bug Young had squashed on his windshield.
Was it arrogance? Forgetfulness? Both?
It's hard to say. But Young's response to a seemingly innocuous question about his recollections of Gasser's defensive effort on him a year ago in the NCAA tournament demonstrated either a supreme level of confidence or a lack of respect for his opponent.
"I really just ..." he began. "I guess he's a good defender. I guess he's a good defender."
Young and Gasser will have an opportunity to settle the score when No. 1 seed Wisconsin (32-3) plays No. 8 seed Oregon (26-9) at approximately 6:45 p.m. CT Sunday in the CenturyLink Center in a rematch of last year's Round of 32 game. Of course, Gasser would be just fine if Young scores points, as long as it means another victory against the Ducks and a trip to the Sweet 16.
Gasser has routinely guarded the opposing team's best player during his college career and is known in Big Ten circles for frustrating players to no end. He once held Vanderbilt leading scorer John Jenkins to 3 of 13 shooting in the NCAA tournament despite playing with the flu. Last year, he held Virginia and Michigan State standouts Joe Harris and Gary Harris to a combined 4 for 30 shooting and eight total points.
But a year ago, Young did something that has rarely happened to Gasser: he made him look like just an ordinary defender. Young dropped 29 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field during Wisconsin's raucous 85-77 tournament victory in Milwaukee. And for lengthy stretches, Young could not be stopped.
"It's really difficult because he's so talented, he's so aggressive and pretty much the offense runs through him, so he's going to get his shots, he's going to get his points," Gasser said. "It's just about making it tough on him and not letting him get anything too easy. He's just a really, really good player."
Young scored 15 of his team's 19 points during a first-half stretch to help the Ducks carry a 49-37 lead into halftime. His final 3-pointer gave Oregon a 75-74 edge with 2:53 remaining in the game. That was before Wisconsin guard Ben Brust canned a 3 with 1:09 left to put the Badgers ahead for good.
It is a possession Young certainly has not forgotten. On that crucial play, Gasser missed a 3 that was rebounded by Sam Dekker. Traevon Jackson missed a jumper that was rebounded by Bronson Koenig. And Frank Kaminsky missed a layup that was rebounded by Dekker, which helped lead to Brust's 3-pointer.
"We missed three rebounds that we should've got," Young said. "We were up one. That's key. If we get the rebounds and we get the board play, then we pull out the ballgame."
Oregon freshman forward Dillon Brooks said Young showed the team film of that game when the players convened at the start of the season in September. Of the 10 Oregon players who appeared in the game, only two remain: Young and Elgin Cook. And though Young downplayed his rationale for making teammates relive his agony, Brooks still remembered the moment.
"I felt like he tried to show us the downs," Brooks said. "He tried to show us a loss so he could teach us how it felt for him at that point. In the NCAA tournament, they played well and then lost a game like that. He tried to show us toughness plays, rebounding, those types of plays win games."
Young is averaging 20.4 points and 3.7 assists per game this season, and if anybody can single-handedly knock off Wisconsin, it's probably the Pac-12 player of the year. He also has taken 567 shots -- 250 more than any other player on his team. That's 150 more shots than Kaminsky, who leads Wisconsin's team in shot attempts. Young ranks 10th nationally in scoring and second in the country in free throw percentage (.923). And since winning his conference's player of the year honor, he has managed to catch fire even more.
He averaged 24.7 points a game in the conference tournament and scored 27 points to help Oregon defeat Oklahoma State 79-73 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament on Friday. He scored the Ducks' final 15 points of the first half on a series of 3-pointers, layups, dunks and free throws.
"He can shoot it off the dribble," Gasser said. "He can shoot it from 30 feet. He can get it to the rim. You saw (Friday) he dunked on a kid. So he's very talented, and he always goes. He's always looking to score. He's always looking to make a play. He's been doing it to everyone all year. He's that good of a player."
Is there anything Wisconsin can do defensively to slow him down?
"If he comes out of his shoe," Badgers coach Bo Ryan quipped. "If he does something on his own, where he doesn't play as well, but that's not going to happen. So no, I mean, he's going to get shots. He's going to get points. He's going to involve other people. He's just a real good player, a very good player, because he makes other people around him better, too."
As for Young's comment, which seemed to indicate he knew so little about Gasser, Dekker came to Young's defense. Dekker said he grew close with Young over the summer during the offseason camp circuit.
"He knows who Josh is," Dekker said. "We talked about him this summer a little bit."
A stellar defensive effort from Gasser on Sunday certainly would make sure Young won't forget him.
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