MADISON, Wis. -- Just ahead of Wisconsin's home finale against Purdue, head coach Greg Gard met with reporters for about 20 minutes to preview the matchup with the Boilermakers and revisit the end of the Michigan game.

Here are quick takeaways from Gard on Chucky Hepburn's status, discussions with Tyler Wahl about potentially returning and the end of regulation in Ann Arbor.

Fighting through a screen from a Michigan big on Sunday, Chucky Hepburn bent over and appeared to suffer a non-contact knee injury. Two days out from Wisconsin's home finale against Purdue, his status is still to be determined.

"I don't know yet," Gard told reporters Tuesday afternoon. "I haven't talked to our trainer yet since yesterday so I don't know where he'll be at in terms of the process today. I'll learn more today. I would be hopeful but until I see that and talk to our training staff, I don't know."

With Hepburn's early exit, backup Kamari McGee played a season-high 25 minutes to tack on to what's been an encouraging stretch for the sophomore. If Hepburn is unable to go Thursday night, a more confident and comfortable McGee will be walking into a much larger role.

"I think the last 20 days has really opened the eyes of not only me, but our staff," Gard said. "We've commented on it during our meetings several times and it started in practice. I think he's become more comfortable and more accustomed to our vocabulary and how we have to do things and it's shown in games, but it's started in practice.

"He's always stayed and kept a positive attitude and not getting frustrated with playing a little bit or not playing in this game, and it showed Saturday. He was ready to go and I think he gave us a really good boost and that's a really good sign going forward."

The senior night pre-game festivities won't take very long on Thursday. Senior forward Tyler Wahl is slated to be the lone student athlete honored. Even then, he can take advantage of an extra year of eligibility next year due to the COVID-19 season.

"He's always been a glue guy," Gard said. "He got on the floor as a freshman because of the rebounding, how hard he played... His leadership ability has grown."

Any conversations of potentially returning are normally kept for after a season as the Badgers scrap for an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. Despite that, Gard is looking to have an idea of what his roster might look like next year.

"We've had a little conversation with Tyler but until that day comes, which hopefully that's a little bit down the road in a few weeks, we'll dive deeper into it," Gard said.

"He's going to graduate here in May and the conversation of grad school is already in motion. He's in a good place. I just want to let him carry out these next two, plus the Big Ten Tournament, and whatever happens after that."

The defensive stands from Max Klesmit, the free throws from Kamari McGee and clutch shot making from Connor Essegian were all tossed aside in the wake of the overtime loss to Michigan. With McGee at the free throw line against the Wolverines, Gard had to walk a fine line in coaching.

"I didn't want to bother Kamari too early," Gard said. "I didn't want to talk to him about fouling when he still had one more free throw to make because I wanted him to make the free throw. There's no way I was going to foul (Hunter Dickinson) with two seconds to go because you're relying on catch, thrust and a quick shot off the catch.

"But with the eight seconds is too much. What I told Kamari is two to three dribbles and then get him. You want to get it to five or under otherwise you're risking too much of an extra possession of having to break pressure, make a free throw or going to the free throw line and having to defend another thrust the other way."

Gard reiterated what he said after the loss to the Wolverines and stated that he instructed McGee to foul as they went up the floor. But that instruction was dependent on his ability to nail the second free throw. From there, you look to foul the ball handler, which McGee attempted to do.

"You have to make a play on the ball," Gard said. "You don't want to tackle or grab like you're stopping a break away because really you're depending on the official's decision of what they see, so you're letting that outcome be put in the official's hands. If he sees it's too outside of the box of a normal foul, you always risk the intentional, so you have to make a play on the ball is what we always tell them. You have to be a little more aggressive but it can't be a grab on from behind, that's what gets you."

When the dust settled on the last seconds of regulation, the final shot Michigan was forced to hoist up was a 30-foot off balance three pointer from seven-footer Hunter Dickinson.

"How it played out, I would defend a deep corner out of bounds play with two seconds to go every day of the week over trying to rebound a missed free throw," Gard said. "That's a no brainer. We have to do a much better job of not taking ourselves out of the play on the pass. We took away the direct pass to (Joey) Baker, they had to throw it over the top, he has to go up to catch it, we just have to stay in the play to be an obstacle for him to navigate around."

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