Wisconsin Basketball Ready for A Big Ten Push

MADISON, Wis. – It’s been a welcome reprieve for the University of Wisconsin.

After enduring a six-week gauntlet of games, a scheduling quirk has given the Badgers only one game in 18 days, time to reflect and reassess before jumping back into Big Ten conference play on January 2 against Iowa.

Those early inclinations? Wisconsin is in solid shape to make it back into the NCAA Tournament conversation and be discussed in the Big Ten championship conversation.

“The biggest thing with this team moving forward is keeping it day by day, looking forward to the next practice, next film session, next weight session, things like that I think is the difference in this team heading into conference play than it was a year ago,” senior guard Max Klesmit said. “Everybody has got the same mentality, same focus right now.”

The Badgers (9-3) have accrued one more loss compared to this point a year ago, but evidence shows they are a better, deeper team than the one that collapsed over the final 18 games.

The improvement comes from the growth of returning players humbled by last year’s shortcomings and the coaching staff additions to the roster through the transfer portal and high school recruitment. While multiple players have taken noticeable leaps, the frontcourt play of Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl has been a critical element when UW has won games.

Shooting a career-worst 42.3 percent last season, Wahl is currently at a career-best 53.1 percent. Crowl ranks second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) and assists (2.0 apg), while leading the Badgers in rebounding (7.3 rpg), FG Pct. (.602) and 3FG Pct. (.643). It’s a reason the Badgers have outscored opponents by 105 points when he’s on the floor, best on the team.

In Wisconsin’s nine wins this season, Wahl and Crowl are 53.5 percent (76 of 142) from the floor. In UW’s three losses, the percentage dips to 42.6 percent (20 of 47).

Their productivity has been sparked by the addition of A.J. Storr, an athletic wing UW signed out of the portal for St. John’s who has been the team’s workhorse. Storr is being used on 28.4 percent of UW’s offensive possessions and has responded by averaging a team-best 15.0 points per game in just 25.7 minutes per contest.

Storr has been in double figures for UW in 10 of 12 games, including scoring a career-high 29 points in UW’s last outing against Chicago State. Averaging five more field goal attempts than his freshman season, Storr is shooting nearly a percentage point higher from the floor at 44.3 percent.

“He’s been our most improved player since November, especially on the defensive end,” head coach Greg Gard said.

UW’s depth is better fortified than a year ago, when the bench was carried by freshman Connor Essegian in the first half of the year and lost its firepower when he was elevated to the starting lineup. Not only did UW return four reserves with experience, the Badgers added freshman center Nolan Winter and freshman guard John Blackwell, the latter ranking fourth on the team in scoring and third in offensive rebounds.

All the pieces have helped point guard Chucky Hepburn have less on his plate. With his usage rate down, Hepburn has a 3.36-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Over the last eight outings, the number has more than doubled to 7-to-1.

The growth from the rotation has Wisconsin ranked No.14 overall in KenPom, one of 15 teams in the country with a top-35 offense (13) and defense (35).

“The depth is a big piece of it,” Gard said. “The experience is another part of it. Guys are a year older, a year more mature. They understand when we need to tighten the belt a little bit and push leads forward, take it from 15 to 25, they understand how important that is and continue to play the game every position as well as possible.”

Wisconsin has delivered these numbers facing a significantly harder schedule than it did in the lead up to last year’s conference restart. The 2022-23 Badgers’ 10 nonconference opponents had an average Kenpom ranking of 158th, as Wisconsin faced twice as many teams that finished in the bottom 80 of the country (four) as those that made the NCAA Tournament (two).

This season, UW’s 11 nonconference opponents hold an average Kenpom ranking of 123rd. Possessing a nonconference strength of schedule ranked 10th nationally, the Badgers are 2-2 against ranked opponents and set 14th in the NCAA NET rankings without a loss outside Quad 1.

“To finish up the nonconference with the slate we had and the schedule we had, I think we are in a better place,” Gard said.

UW is far from a finished product. The Badgers have struggled to get Essegian going (2.7 ppg), which is a byproduct of UW’s poor three-point shooting number. The Badgers are shooting 32.9 percent from the perimeter to this point, getting just 25.3 percent of its points from beyond the arc. That ranks 291st in the country.

And while Wisconsin rebounded from its flat defensive performances against Tennessee and Providence with six straight wins, the Badgers getting pummeled at No.1 Arizona shows the gap between them and the elite programs (now-No.1 Purdue beat Arizona by eight in Indianapolis a week later).

What could be viewed as a discouragement only emphasized how UW needs to play over the next three months to become a title contender.

“Not to discredit Arizona because they are a really good team, but I thought we were a step slow,” Gard said. “Watching the film two or three times, so many shots hit the front of the rim (and) we were short on a lot of things. Another example of how when we play physical we are much more impactful and effective. We need to be the hammer and not the nail.”

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