Tyler Wahl Poised For One Last Tournament Run at Wisconsin

Many carrots were dangling in front of University of Wisconsin forward Tyler Wahl when he decided to return for a fifth season. He would get a head start toward his master’s degree and he could chase a third Big Ten title.

But he wanted to leave the University and the program in a better spot than where he found it, and leaving after an injury-plagued season ended in the NIT wasn’t exactly his idea of better.

“This team has been to the NCAA Tournament so many times, and us not getting there last year was definitely one of the deciding factors for me coming back,” Wahl said. “There's really nothing like this tournament. Everyone comes in here dreaming of playing in a Final Four, playing in this tournament.

“Being able to come back and have the opportunity to come back and help this team get to where we are today, it's exactly how I dreamed of it.”

Wahl’s final chance at a memorable postseason run through the NCAA Tournament begins tonight for fifth-seed Wisconsin (22-13), which will face 12th-seeded and Sun Belt tournament champion James Madison (31-3) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York (8:40 p.m./CBS).

It would be the icing on the cake for Wahl, who will set a new school record with his 162nd appearance against the Dukes but will have done so in a career season.

Wahl ranks third for UW in scoring (10.8 ppg), second in rebounding (5.4 rpg), while also first in blocks, second in steals and third in assists. He will leave Wisconsin as just the fifth Badger to register 1,300 points, 700 rebounds and 200 assists.

“Tyler coming back has been one of the keys to our success this year,” point guard Chucky Hepburn said. “He knows how to win games and just having him back on the team, he just has that winning culture that we need for our program to succeed.”

Tournament success is the only thing Wahl hasn’t accomplished in his career. He was a freshman reserve on Wisconsin’s Big Ten championship team that was canceled due to COVID and attempted only two shots and scored five points in two games in the 2021 tournament bubble in Indianapolis.

His best performance was registering 15 points and 9 rebounds in a 67-60 victory over Colgate in 2022, but Wahl managed only eight points in a second-round upset to 11th-seed Iowa State.

None of that compared to the disappointment of last season. He was on pace for an all-conference season until a January ankle injury derailed his progress. He missed three consecutive games (all UW losses) and struggled with his timing after returning to the lineup. UW missed the tournament altogether and had to settle for the NIT.

It made wanting to come back for his COVID year appealing, even before throwing in the team aspect.

“(I wanted to be) able to come back, be a leader and be a good player,” Wahl said. “Do all the little things right and get back to the spot where we are today.”

Wahl’s fingerprints are all over this team. His skills allow him to defend guards, forwards, and center, versatility that allows Wisconsin to implement different switches off ball screens. He was one of the first players to gravitate toward A.J. Storr to help pass on program knowledge and instruction, setting the foundation for Storr to be a second-team all-conference selection and a member of the all-tournament team.

His biggest growth came offensively. With last year’s ankle injury limiting his movement and explosiveness, Wahl shooting percentage dropped 9.3 percentage points compared to his junior year with his free-throw shooting dipping 6.4 percent. After scoring in double figures in nine of UW’s first 12 games, Wahl only reached 10+ points in 12 of the final 19 games.

When things weren’t clicking at the beginning of the season, the staff adjusted his role to get him the ball in space and give him the green light to attack in punch-drive situations. The results were Wahl being named the Tournament MVP of the Fort Myers Tip-Off and shooting 57.1 percent in Big Ten play, the third-best in league games.

“I'm able to pick and choose my spots and where to be aggressive and where to get my teammates involved,” Wahl said. “I feel like this game has been able to slow down for me where I'm able to make the right read, make the right decisions throughout the game. And just make sure my teammates are there, them helping me out and me helping them out, and we are just running as a well-oiled machine.”

Wahl hasn’t been the same since registering a double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds) in the regular-season finale at Purdue. Battling a right knee injury, he was just 5-for-18 and held to single digits in four consecutive games, the first time that happened since December 2021.

He said Thursday his knee is getting better “every single day,” and UW’s favorable draw gives it an optimal amount of time to prepare for what Wahl hopes is three more weeks of college games.

“Our expectation is to come in here and win every game that we go out and step on the court,” Wahl said. “We've got a good group of guys. We are really focused and we're here to win some games. We're starting off with the game tomorrow, and that's our main focus is we are going to go win there and we are going to go 1-0 tomorrow.”

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