MADISON, Wis. – By this point in the season, roles on the Wisconsin men’s basketball roster have been clearly defined.
Chucky Hepburn is Wisconsin’s facilitator, a point guard with a sparkling 3.04 assist-to-turnover margin who also has a knack for generating steals. A.J. Storr is the slasher, an athletic wing who can generate his shot in multiple ways. Max Klesmit was the defensive stopper, until 11 days ago when he became the best offensive player in the country.
Tyler Wahl plays aptly through the post, and the order in which the reserves come off the bench has been consistent and impactful.
The role of Steven Crowl is a little broader. Simply put, the junior center can do a little bit of everything for the Badgers.
While Klesmit was busy burning holes through Wisconsin’s nets in the second half of Friday’s 91-79 win over Indiana, Crowl set the table.
Klesmit had 26 points, but Crowl was responsible for 34 points, 12 of his own and another 22 coming off his career-high eight assists.
“We just run our offense within the flow of the offense,” said Crowl, who added eight rebounds to flirt with a triple-double. “That just happened to be how it ended up. Guys like Max were knocking down their shots, obviously, that helps the assist numbers.”
Crowl had a point with his modesty. His two three-point assists to Chucky Hepburn were a simple pass from the foul line and a kickout from the post, as was his kickout to the three-point line for Klesmit, an inbound pass to Klesmit, and a bounce-pass along the baseline to John Blackwell.
One of Wisconsin’s core offensive principles is touching the post on every possession, where Crowl delivered some of his toughest passes that he made look easy.
He backed down a defender in the low post and pivoted away from a double team to find Carter Gilmore open underneath the basket. A simple bounce pass got him the ball, as Gilmore did a pump fake to get his defender in the air and allow him to finish with his left hand.
After Indiana cut the lead to seven, Crowl kept the ball high and stretched away from a double team, hitting Klesmit for a three-pointer as the guard cut toward the wing. Of Wisconsin’s 10 three-pointers, Crowl assisted on six of them.
“He’s extremely skilled and at that size,” head coach Greg Gard said of Crowl, who also tossed a pass over the head of forward Malik Reneau that hit A.J. Storr in step for a flying layup.
“His ability to pass it at that size, he’s calm. He doesn’t get rattled when pressure comes around him and bodies are near him.”
Gard has pushed Crowl to be a little more selfish with his decision-making, and why not? Not only is he second on the team in scoring (12.0), the leading defensive rebounder (89), and offensive rebounder (51), Crowl entered the weekend ranking second in the Big Ten with an effective field goal percentage of 63.2 percent.
Crowl has been selective and effective from beyond the arc, making 12-of-22 (.545) from three and is shooting 60.3 percent from two and 72.7 percent from the foul line.
A year after finishing with 2.5 assists per game, becoming the first Wisconsin 7-footer to average 2.5+ assists per game since National Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky (2.6 apg) in 2015, Crowl is averaging 2.6 per game.
“We play off each other very well,” Hepburn said. “He’s one of the best bigs in the country, I believe, so it’s easy to play with him. He has such a high IQ for the game.”
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