Steven Crowl admits struggles from sitting with foul trouble

During Wisconsin’s 64-52 win over Iowa on Wednesday, Badgers big man Steven Crowl had to sit out most of the game due to foul trouble. This was difficult for him to deal with, and he admitted to struggling with it after the game.

“It’s hard to sit that long,” Steven Crowl said. “I was trying to stay loose over there, whether it was getting on the bike or just stretching, but I think the big thing is just trying to stay engaged in the huddle.”

Along with being physically ready to go back in the game when he had his number called, Crowl had to stay mentally prepared. This, as he explained, can be difficult at times.

“When the teams are in the huddles, you can’t let your mind start floating. You’ve got to stay engaged in the game when you sit for that long. And, no, yeah, I just wanted to be aggressive coming out in the first half.”

Foul trouble didn’t just give Crowl trouble as he sat out and missed large chunks of the game. It also changed the way he played the game itself.

“I think I let [Filip] Rebraca score a little too easy because I had those two fouls. So, if I was able to go back and do something different, I’d probably be a little harder on him to start the second half, but yeah, just trying to be a little more aggressive in the second half was big for me.”

In the end, Crowl played only 13 minutes of the game. During that time, he scored eight points and had three rebounds.

Greg Gard was frustrated with the officiating

Greg Gard, the Wisconsin head coach, was frustrated with the officiating during the win over Iowa. After the game, he explained why this had frustrated him so much.

“Because No. 1, it impacts the players. And they don’t know. They’re — ‘What is a charge? What’s not?’ — so they ask me and I don’t know, because it’s one thing on one end, something else on the other. I have great respect for the guys that are officiating. It’s a really hard job. Guys are big, strong, physical. It’s fast. It’s not as easy as it looks when you watch it on TV when you can push rewind and DVR it and pause it. They have to make an in-game, real-time decision. But that’s something that I think our league is trying to help guys get better and improve in all those areas,” Gard said.

“And they do a ton of games and they’re in different places and these guys had to travel through rough weather tonight, too. I think the biggest thing we’re trying to get to, or place we’re trying to get to is consistency. Specifically in low post play. And it’s – between how they instruct us that it’s going to be called, videos we get, how it is called — it varies.”