The Wisconsin Badgers entered last Friday’s matchup against Chicago State ranked 24th and without guard Chucky Hepburn for most of the game, who injured his groin in the game. The rest of the team would then have to step up for the absence of their starting guard. Despite the absence of Hepburn in the second half, Chicago State was completely outclassed by the Badgers.
Top plays from tonight’s win!
AJ Storr: 29 PTS (11-18 FG, 3-5 3FG)
Steven Crowl: 13 PTS | 7 REB | 3 AST
Tyler Wahl: 11 PTS (5-7 FG) | 4 REB pic.twitter.com/LtrwEy0Zap— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) December 23, 2023
Three Badgers finished the night in double digits including transfer AJ Storr who scored 29 points, going 11/18 from the field and 4/6 on free throws. Along with Storr, forwards Steven Crowl and Tyler Wahl reached double digits, scoring 13 points and 11 points respectively.
With Hepburn still injured, Badgers head coach Greg Gard provided some update. “He was walking around in the locker room a little bit,” Gard said about Hepburn following the game, via 247Sports’s Nick Osen. “He’s gonna be sore, but he says he’ll be fine…he’ll have some time to rest here and get him back.” There is belief that Hepburn can return for the Badgers next game at home against the Iowa Hawkeyes to start the Big Ten schedule.
The Way The Wisconsin Badgers Are Playing, They Are Poised To Make A Deep NCAA Tournament Run In March.
The Badgers are currently 9-3, losing only to Tennessee (who was ranked 9th at the time of their matchup), Providence (who while unranked, leads the Big East Conference with a 11-2 record) and most recently to top-ranked Arizona (at the time).
The only bad loss on the Badgers resume is the loss to Arizona which was a 98-73 loss in the McKale Center in Tucson. In that matchup, guard John Blackwell was the leading scorer for the team coming of the bench with 17 points. Crowl was the next highest with just 11 points. Both AJ Storr and Chucky Hepburn were held in check as the Wildcats won convincingly.
As they get into they get into the tougher part of their schedule, the Badgers will face a relatively difficult opening five games in their Big Ten schedule. While none are ranked currently, all of them are .500 or above.
The opener is against a 7-5 Iowa team. The Badgers follow that up by another home game against Nebraska who has managed a 10-2 record so far. Wisconsin then goes on the road to Columbus to Ohio State (10-2) who has impressive victories over Minnesota and Alabama in the first part of the schedule. They return home to face the Northwestern Wildcats who sit at 9-2 with a notable win against Purdue but also lost to Chicago State. The fifth team is where the things start to even out as the Badgers head out once again, this time to Penn State who is 6-6.
If things progress as expected, Chucky Hepburn will have some sort of limited role. This is massive as the sooner he returns, the more explosiveness the Badgers will have alongside the flashes Storr has provided to compete in the fierce Big Ten Conference.
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