MADISON, Wis. – A bus trip or flight home is always sweet following a victory for University of Wisconsin senior Kamari McGee. Saturday’s short trip home hit him a little differently.

There weren’t many people in Wisconsin’s traveling party happier with the 94-84 victory over then-No.7 Purdue at Mackey Arena than McGee, who spent the final 26-plus minutes of the game watching the game on his phone and trying to do homework after getting ejected late in the first half.

“We’re more about actions and not just words,” McGee said on Monday. “When my guys said they had my back, and they went out there and showed that, it just meant a lot. It’s a testament to our word. When we say we are together, we are together, and it’ll remain that for the rest of the year.”

McGee has been one of the key reserves for No.11 Wisconsin (20-5, 10-4), which enters tonight’s home game against Illinois (17-9, 9-7) two games back of first place in the Big Ten. Averaging 21.4 minutes off the bench, averaging a UW career-best 7.1 points and 1.9 assists per game, McGee was providing that lift for Wisconsin in his early minutes.

His first three-minute run yielded two free throws, a rebound, and an assist. He hit a jumper 19 seconds after checking in a second time and was pestering Purdue point guard Braden Smith when McGee was called for a foul after contacting Purdue forward Trey Kaufman-Renn fighting through a screen.

McGee made inadvertent contact with Kaufman-Renn’s groin but made no punching motion. While he did extend his fist, it landed where it did because the 6-foot McGee was hunched over as he chased Smith while Kaufman-Renn is nine inches taller and standing straight up.

The officials went to the video monitor as McGee waited.

“Honestly, I thought they would see it wasn’t intentional,” McGee said. “I understand the rules. I was thinking maybe flagrant-1, they shoot free throws and get the ball. I wasn’t thinking ejection though.”

Under Rule 4, Article 2, Section 15, Article 2.c.2.d of the NCAA Basketball Rulebook, a flagrant 2 ejection must be given in response to “(a)ny contact by the offending player to the groin area of an opponent which is not clearly accidental.”

Even though the rule leaves open an officiating crew to interpret intent, head coach Greg Gard said after the game and reiterated Monday that officials have leaned into a black-and-white approach of ejecting a player if any contact – accident or not – is made to the groin.

It’s why official D.J. Carstensen told Gard he “had no choice” but to eject McGee, who got a similar explanation from a different official.

“Everybody has to make the call, and I lot of people disagree with it,” McGee said. “I did personally, but it’s OK. The rule is the rule. You just got to follow it.”

McGee initially sat on the UW bench before being told he needed to leave the floor. Escorted to the locker room by strength coach Jim Snider, McGee confidently blew kisses to the Purdue students. Once out of sight, the emotions started to get the better of him.

“When I got in the game, we had a good rhythm and me personally I felt I had a good rhythm,” McGee said. “I felt I was bringing that spark like I normally do. It was a lot of pent-up frustration. I didn’t know whether to be mad (or) sad. I was just pacing back and forth for a good 10 minutes.”

Gard said McGee didn’t say much during halftime but was a focal point of teammates talking to him and reassured him before they left the locker room for the second half they’d find a way without him.

“He really has invested a lot in this team and his teammates,” Gard said. “He felt that he let everybody down, and that was not the message we gave him. I was the last one to leave the locker room. He gave me a big hug. I said, ‘Kam, we got you. We’re going to go get this for you.’”

Left alone, McGee couldn’t get the game feed from the lone television in the locker room. He managed to get the game on his phone, but the helplessness of being unable to contribute led him to try and do homework on his iPad to take his mind off the game going on outside. Not much production was admittedly done as UW caught fire offensively and pulled away.

“I was just loud,” McGee said. “I am sure the guys outside the doors working at Purdue heard me yelling. I was yelling after every bucket. Anybody scored, I was yelling.”

Many of his cheers went toward redshirt freshman guard Jack Janicki, who thrived with the extra minutes. He finished with a career-high 11 points while adding two assists, a rebound, a block, and no turnovers.

In an emotional locker room captured by Wisconsin video cameras, McGee made sure to corner Janicki.

“I loved that, and I expressed that to him after the game a lot,” McGee said. “I just told him, man, you went in there and you shined. If I was playing, I would probably have been a good amount of that time. He stepped up big, and I was just so happy for him because Janicki works so hard behind closed doors.”

With no further actions taken by the league, McGee is anxious to return to the rotation in hopes of ending UW’s nine-game losing streak to the Illini.

“I wouldn’t say there’s extra fire, there’s always fire there, but I am happy to get back out there just to play a full game instead of a couple minutes,” McGee said. “We’re excited. It’s the next game, so I’m always excited for that next opportunity to play again.”

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