Wisconsin true freshman Tyler Wahl jumps in during first collegiate contest
During the first half of Tuesday night's loss to Saint Mary's inside the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., true freshman Tyler Wahl heard his name called to enter his first collegiate game.
What was going through his head prior to stepping on the court? Nerves? Excitement? Both? According to Wahl, not much.
"It was just like kind of came up quick," Wahl told BadgerBlitz.com on Wednesday evening. "Coach [Greg] Gard said to go to the scorer’s table and I came right in, so there wasn’t too much time to kind of ponder on the thought of me going in on my first college game, but I felt comfortable out there.”
Wahl officially played 12 minutes and eight seconds and finished with two points and an assist. For months, the 6-foot-7 forward has adjusted to the college atmosphere in training and competing against his fellow teammates.
Going against a ranked opponent that did not don cardinal and white, Wahl did not notice much difference in terms of speed and strength of an another program.
"Everybody’s strong and fast, so it’s just like the fundamentals, you really got to really stick to it and just play the game of basketball the right way," Wahl said.
The Minnesota native shot 1-of-3 from the field, including taking two within 41 seconds of each other at the 13:46 and 13:05 marks for the first half. However, his first two points as a Badger came with under a minute to play in the first half. After a run by Saint Mary's created a 10-point lead, Wahl's basket cut the deficit to 30-22.
“It was nice,” Wahl said with a laugh, “but I had to get back on defense quick so I didn’t have too much time to celebrate it.”
Overall for his first game, Wahl believed he played well defensively, ran up and down the court and moved the ball well. Despite not officially being credited with a turnover, he mentioned he committed one and needs to "keep those under control."
Since the beginning of practices until the start of the regular season, one area of the game Wahl has seen progress in has been his ability to become comfortable with the offense.
“The first couple of weeks there wasn’t a whole lot of explanation since I was the only one and everyone kind of knew what was going on," Wahl said. "First couple of weeks were kind of difficult but once I kind of figured it out, I got more comfortable with the swing and the offense and each other’s games and just kind of getting in the flow of everything.”
The hardest challenge for Wahl to adjust to in the college game comes from the speed and strength of this level. As the true freshman divulged, "everybody's the same size, everyone's strong and fast so you just got to kind of focus on playing basketball the right way.
"You can't really take plays off at all."
That said, Wahl feels his strengths currently lie in getting to the basketball and setting up his teammates. Defensively, he feels comfortable and confident guarding the 1-4 positions on the court.
The jump from high school to the college game can be daunting and take time to acclimate. But from the perspective of redshirt junior forward Aleem Ford, his first-year teammate is "doing great" and acknowledged the younger forward's ability to compete, and adapt on the court.
“He’s just from when he’s gotten here, he’s interacted with us well, and I feel like that helps him when he gets on the floor because he can trust us and it makes him more comfortable," Ford said on Wednesday night. "We want him to be as comfortable as possible when he’s out there because it’s us versus them so just as long as we stay on the same page.
"He’s just done a great job adjusting to the college game, and as he just continues to grow stronger, I feel like he’ll continue to get even better."