If there was any hangover from the Wisconsin Badgers’ (6-10 Big Ten, 13-16 overall) massive upset of Purdue Thursday night, it missed Brad Davison.
The Wisconsin men’s basketball team (5-10 Big Ten, 12-16 overall) has seen more than its fair share of downs in what has turned out to be one of its most disappointing seasons in recent memory. But as the Badgers welcome an equally downtrodden Minnesota (3-12, 14-14) team to the Kohl Center Monday night, they’ll be riding higher than at any other point this season. Just 20 minutes after steadily raising the jersey of Frank Kaminsky to the rafters Thursday evening, the UW players found themselves engulfed by a sea of fans at center court as they collectively celebrated a massive upset of then-No. 6 Purdue.
Following Wisconsin's upset victory over Purdue, Daily Cardinal sports editor Ben Pickman and men's basketball beat writer Thomas Valtin-Erwin break down what UW's victory really means for the team going forward.
In many ways, Frank Kaminsky was a perfect storm of basketball ability. We can only speculate what the basketball gods were thinking as they poured pinpoint passing, lights-out shooting and sensational footwork into the former Badger’s seven-foot frame.
Wearing a cardinal red suit and specially designed Jordan sneakers, Frank Kaminsky walked out onto the court at halftime of Wisconsin’s (5-10 Big Ten, 12-16 overall) eventual 57-53 win over No. 6 Purdue (12-3, 23-5) and promptly hugged his family who was standing on the baseline closest to UW’s bench. More than a dozen of his former teammates including Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig, Josh Gasser and his best friend, Jordan Smith among others watched feet away on the very same baseline. After the No. 44 banner was raised to the Kohl Center rafters, Kaminsky took the microphone from UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez and addressed the more than 17,000 members of the Kohl Center faithful in attendance. “I’m a little bit nervous so I’m gonna try to get through this,” he said.
On the night that Frank Kaminsky’s No. 44 jersey was raised in the rafters, it seemed fitting that the first team to score 44 points would emerge victorious.
Throughout both the 2013-’14 and 2014-’15 Wisconsin men’s basketball seasons, a Nintendo 64 video game console almost always accompanied UW on its road trips.
Thursday evening, Frank Kaminsky's No. 44 jersey will get raised to the rafters. Prior to Wisconsin's matchup with Purdue, take a look back at some of Kaminsky's highlights with UW.
After No. 20 Michigan’s (9-5 Big Ten, 20-7 overall) win over Wisconsin (4-10, 11-16), Wolverine head coach John Beilein said that one of, if not the most important point of his team’s defensive gameplan was to prevent Badger redshirt junior forward Ethan Happ from scoring 40 points. Happ finished with 29 points, 11 below Beilein’s target, and Wisconsin, as a team, lost by that very same margin, 83-72.
For a brief stretch in Wisconsin’s (4-10 Big Ten, 11-16 overall) 83-72 loss to No. 20 Michigan (9-5, 2-7), the Kohl Center faithful rose to its feet in excitement.
As the Wisconsin men’s basketball team took to the road Thursday night in the midst of a season-long five-game losing streak, the Badgers (4-9 Big Ten, 11-15 overall) put their faith in the steady hands of Ethan Happ as they dispatched Illinois (3-9, 12-13) 78-69. The redshirt junior forward was the only fully functional aspect of the UW offense against the Fighting Illini, shredding the UI defense from the opening tip to the final whistle.
On a recent Friday night, Aaron Moesch and Brad Davison drove to James Madison Memorial High School to see the high school’s performance of its school play, Curtains.
On December 9, 2017, T.J. Schlundt experienced his first real taste of college basketball. The redshirt junior guard was thrust into Wisconsin’s rotation on short notice, as UW was unexpectedly without both Kobe King and D’Mitrik Trice for its matchup with in-state rival Marquette.
Less than an hour after Wisconsin (3-9 Big Ten, 10-15 overall) dropped its third game of the week, injured sophomore point guard D’Mitrik Trice took to Twitter with a message for UW’s fan base.
Having lost seven of eight games — four of which were double-digit losses — the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (3-8 Big Ten, 10-14 overall) heads to College Park, Md., Sunday staring down the barrel of its worst nine-game stretch in 20 years.
Much has been made this season of the Wisconsin men’s basketball team’s inability to close games.
Coming out of the under-16 media timeout at the 15:46 minute mark of the first half, the Rolling Stone’s hit song “Start Me Up” blared over the loudspeaker.
Less than ten minutes after addressing the media following Wisconsin’s (3-7 Big Ten, 10-13 overall) 74-63 loss to Nebraska (8-4, 17-8), a visibly saddened Ethan Happ was back on the Kohl Center floor putting up free throws. Happ, sporting a different pair of sneakers then the pair he played in earlier in the evening, was the lone Badger on the floor at the time.
Ethan Happ knew the Badgers needed a change if they wanted to turn their season around. Monday night at the Kohl Center, he would take up that call by himself, hitting his first career 3-pointer in the first half.
After a frustrating two-game road trip, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (3-6 Big Ten, 10-12 overall) returns home Monday evening to meet the Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-4, 16-8) for the second time this year.
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