MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin forward Nate Reuvers keeps setting the bar higher and higher for himself during his sophomore season - both figuratively and literally.
A 6-foot-10 forward from Lakeville, Minn., Reuvers has set career-highs for points scored in two of his last three games - he finished with 18 points in Wisconsin’s loss to Maryland on Jan. 14, only to follow it up with a 22-point performance in Wisconsin’s win over Illinois on Wednesday night in Champaign - recording his first double-double along the way with 10 rebounds (another career-high).
After the Illinois game Reuvers told reporters he feels like he should score every time he gets the ball near the basket - a bold statement for a player who is usually soft-spoken. But Reuvers is letting his performance do the talking in his second year on the court for the Badgers, and his teammates are taking notice.
“His confidence just keeps skyrocketing over the last couple weeks,” senior forward Ethan Happ said of Reuvers on Thursday. “And then for him to go off like that (scoring 22 points), that was huge for our team too. With me in foul trouble, for him to step up and do what he did, that kind of secured our win.”
Last year, when Reuvers was playing for UW as a relatively underweight true freshman, the Badgers couldn’t count on having a consistent post presence when Happ was on the bench - either to get a quick minute or two of rest or because he was sitting in foul trouble. But Reuvers said he knows now he needs to lead the charge for UW near the basket when Happ is not on the court.
“There’s been times this season in the past where he’s been on the bench and I’ve been floating around the perimeter a little too much,” Reuvers said. “My mindset is when he goes on the bench I’ve got to be the presence in the paint because you’ve gotta have something.”
The Badgers don’t want Reuvers to abandon his long-range shot, however. That’s one part of his skillset that can make him hard for defenses to game-plan for, with Reuvers currently shooting 40.8 percent (20 of 49) from behind the 3-point line this season.
In fact, no one would think you were crazy for seeing a little bit of former UW All-American Frank Kaminsky in the foundations of Reuvers’ game. That’s not to say that Reuvers is the second coming of ‘Frank the Tank,’ but Happ said that he can see similarities between his former teammate and his current one.
“(There are) definitely similarities,” Happ said of the Reuvers-Kaminsky comparison. “The height, being able to shoot the 3-ball the way they both did, and then Nate’s got a ways to go but the way Frank could put it on the floor and distribute - but he’s got the core things that Frank had, so I think there’s a possibility he could mirror him going through the next two years.”
Kaminsky-like or not, Reuvers’ emergence this season is likely to make him a little bit more of a focal point on the scouting reports of Wisconsin’s opponents this year and beyond - as seen on Saturday at the Kohl Center, when Northwestern held him to just three points after putting him in foul trouble early. But while he won't set career-highs every night, Reuvers is still going to get more opportunities to keep pushing his ceiling higher during the rest of his sophomore season.
“We’re all confident players,” Reuvers said on Thursday. “We know we can score the ball, shoot the ball. We just gotta step up when we’ve got the opportunity.”
It’s one thing to say it, but Reuvers has managed to walk the walk as he gets more comfortable in his role on the team. Only time will tell how much higher Reuvers can set the bar for his performance as he keeps growing in his second year with the program.
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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.
