It wasn’t pretty, but Wisconsin got off to a 1-0 start on Monday night as it defeated Denver 75-68 at the Kohl Center. This is a roster that’s expected to take time to gel, and that was very much evident in the season-opener. Of the newcomers, I left Monday’s contest most impressed by Eian Elmer.

The Miami (OH) transfer finished as the Badgers’ leading scorer with 18 points, adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Coming off a campaign where he was a part of a team that went undefeated in the regular season, it’s evident that Elmer knows how to impact winning in a plethora of ways.

Elmer’s 3-point shooting is a standout attribute, but against the Pioneers, he made a point of getting to the rim. In a heavy 3-point shooting offense, guys who are willing to put the ball on the deck and get to the rim are crucial for when the long-range shot isn’t falling.

“Obviously we had a size advantage, so just trying to get down there, get in the paint, get paint touches, trying to score, trying to make a play for our bigs,” Elmer said. “Our shots weren’t falling tonight. We shot very poor from the free-throw line and from three, honestly. It’s not really like us, but when the shot’s not falling, you just got to get to the rim.”

In the first five minutes of the game, Elmer scored six points, all of which came at the rim in transition. With a point guard like Owen Foxwell, when he runs the floor, he’s going to have opportunities to score and he converted against Denver. Better yet, a few of the baskets came after he disrupted a Pioneers’ offensive possession with a steal or deflection.

His full offensive arsenal was more apparent in the second half. Just over two minutes into the frame, Elmer did a nice job relocating when the ball was on the opposite side of the floor and Braden Carrington assisted his lone 3-point shot of the night. Two minutes later, he attacked a closeout and pulled up for a 12-foot jumper.

For his final two buckets of the night, he went back to the paint, including a score with his back to the basket after he found himself open in the paint on a baseline out-of-bounds. His big games from beyond the arc will come, but his versatility on the offensive end was encouraging in his debut.

When you have a guy like that that can put it on the floor, shoot the three, finish at the rim, three-level scorer, that does put some problems on the defense,” Denver head coach Tim Bergstraser said. “You got to rely a little bit on one-on-one, yeah you can do a little more team defense, but he’s obviously a heck of a basketball player. He’s played at a high level and produced at a high level for a winning basketball team. He’s a guy that definitely brings challenges to our defense.”

Elmer still has room to grow

Of course, his solid debut didn’t come without miscues, which is why he spent an extended stretch on the bench before checking back in to finish the game.

“He got beat backdoor right in front of me,” Gard said postgame. “He fouled there late and put them at the line to stop the clock in the last minute.”

It’s game one of a long season, and Elmer is a guy who likes to take some risks defensively, so those mistakes are going to happen. Limiting the frequency of such errors will be what determines how good of a defender he can be.

Gard was, however, able to look past the mental lapses from Elmer and emphasize a few things that the senior guard did well in his Badger debut.

“I like the aggressiveness,” Gard said. “I like the physicality he plays with when he does get going downhill. We’ve got to help him get better at getting going downhill with the ball handling and some of that. But obviously, he did some good things.”

When a team loses two individual creators as talented as Nick Boyd and John Blackwell, figuring out where to go offensively will take some time. What was most encouraging about Elmer’s performance in my eyes was the fact that he was a basket away from a 20-point game with a low volume of attempts from beyond the arc.

As was evident on Monday night, the Badgers will need to get creative offensively to fill the void left by Boyd and Blackwell, but if Elmer can attack the rim with consistency as he did against the Pioneers and find a rhythm from deep, he’ll be one of, if not the go-to perimeter option for this team.