Hughes Making Effort To Improve PG Skills

As Badger fans know, Trevon Hughes started out the season with a huge bang. Not only did he show that he had a knack for finding the open man, he also proved his scoring prowess. But as the season has progressed, some have criticized him for sometimes taking on too much scoring responsibility, often times by taking bad shots and, as a result, not finding open teammates. Despite the fact that I think he's a great talent and is one of my favorite Badgers, I know that I for one have had these criticisms of him as well. Hughes has been aware of this, though, and has been putting the effort forward to improve his game. Last night was in a way a culmination of his efforts. Though his stat line would not jump out at you in any one way, watching the game you could tell that he had a better feel for what his priorities should be out on the court. Hughes commented on this after the game:

"That's learning from the past games, and watching game tape and learning what is a good shot and what is a bad shot," Hughes said. "And as I looked at it every time I was going for a layup, I had teammates open."

Hughes' success driving the paint meant there was no need to shoot threes, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He entered play 6 for 24 beyond the arc in the last four games.

His lone three Wednesday came as the shot clock was about to expire.

Nonetheless there is still work to do.

"I'm not satisfied," he said. "I got three turnovers, and as a point guard I'm supposed to control the team and be careful with the ball."

Hughes has great scoring ability and he should most definitely, at the right times, look to put the ball in the basket. I don't think anyone has any qualms about him being (at the very least) one of the team's scoring leaders. Sometimes it may be needed for him to take over games, as well. But if he's able to also incorporate better "point guard" skills into his game (passing, control) while not taking as many of the bad shots, he could develop into a super all-around talent. It sounds like he knows it, too.

Link: JSO | Hughes Takes A Big Step Forward