MADISON, Wis. – The flight from State College, PA, to Dane County Regional Airport is one of the longer return trips the University of Wisconsin takes during Big Ten competition. It allowed Trevor Anderson plenty of time to think about what ifs.

If he was writing a story about his basketball career now, it wouldn’t be a best seller. After all, a standout high school athlete saddled by an endless string of injuries is hardly a page turner. But for all the bad luck that has come his way, Anderson is in the process of a rewrite that could tell his true story.

“I just haven’t been myself, thinking back to high school and my freshman year,” Anderson said. “But I just got to keep working, keep getting better and my time will come.”

The stat line through 20 games is misleading, averaging just 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds in 11.7 minutes play, but Anderson has picked his spots to be an impact player off Wisconsin’s bench. Take that win at Penn State. With the struggles of starting point guard D’Mitrik Trice, Anderson was summoned and played 22 minutes, moved the ball well, played tough defense to keep his target in front of him and delivered a late basket that helped seal the 58-49 win.

After the win, head coach Greg Gard was simple in his explanation of why Anderson played so much down the stretch: He trusted him.

“I’m not the most athletic guy, so you’ve got to do those other things really, really well,” Anderson said, who has 23 assists to 11 turnovers this season. “Beating guys to their spot defensively, watching film and knowing the guys I’m guarding what they are going to do. That basketball IQ helps me, and I’ve always prided myself from a young age taking care of the ball. Being the point guard, you’ve got to have the ball in your hands in crucial spots and just get it where it needs to be.”

Making the tough plays has always come natural to Anderson but being healthy enough to be on the court has become another story altogether.

Finishing as the all-time leading scorer at Stevens Point Area Senior High School with 2,360 points (the eighth-most points in the history of Wisconsin high school basketball), Anderson turned down a Wisconsin walk-on offer for a scholarship at Green Bay, where he immediately made an impact as a true freshman. Through the first 20 games he averaged 9.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists with the Phoenix, until the injury problems started.

Having already overcome a small labrum tear in his right hip his senior season, Anderson had to miss the rest of the season with a fractured back. During his time recuperating, he decided to chase his dream and transfer to Wisconsin. Sitting out the 2017-18 season per mandatory transfer requirements, Anderson was started to find his niche when he partially tore his ACL during the first weekend of preseason practice.

Feeling he was playing well and not wanting to miss another season, Anderson battled through the injury. He lasted eight games, and admitted to playing some of his best basketball, before completely tearing it in a road win at Iowa.

“They said it was stable enough to play on, so I wasn’t going to take the surgery right away and miss two straight seasons,” Anderson said. “By the grace of God, I played eight games before it fully tore. You never count that into the equation. It’s been hard mentally, emotionally, obviously physically fighting back and getting my body back how it was prior.”

Anderson – who has been put on scholarship by Gard for this season - says he’s still not 100 percent. He also admits he’s a step slower than he wants to be but saw encouraging signs with the way he was able to keep up with some of the quicker players in the conference.

“I’ve crawled back and got my legs back underneath me now,” Anderson said. “I’m still processing (the injury) at times. You’re always sore at different points in the season. I was never hurt through middle school or high school, but once college started, I got that injury bug. There’s nothing I can do about it, just eating right, resting, doing the recovery stuff and keep living in the moment.”

With a lot of capable guards on the current roster, Anderson’s minutes vary with the matchup. He should see time tonight when Wisconsin (11-7, 4-3 Big Ten) hosts the guard-oriented roster of Nebraska (7-11, 2-5), which will push the tempo, shoot a lot of 3-pointers and play a lot of AAU-style, one-on-one basketball.

It’s a team that requires players to play discipline defensively, which Anderson has shown has he’s become a fixture in Gard’s rotation.

“You’ve seen him consistently bring a spark to the team off the bench,” assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft said. “He’s gotten better defensively. He’s playing like a freshman (year) really, so he’s working through some mistakes like everybody else does. He really has added a spark off the bench. When you are in moments late in games, those are things you want to keep building on.”

Barring an injury or setback, Anderson’s reserve role will remain through the end of the season. He’ll be a redshirt senior next fall and hopes to have a clean bill of health. That’s the goal, allowing him to finish his story on his own terms.

“I’m starting to get back into my own,” Anderson said. “I think next year I’ll really be back into my own.”