Jack Janicki lost a tooth in their Wisconsin Badgers’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves but he is gaining fans each and every time he’s on the floor.
The freshman guard is on a tear lately and it showed again on Wednesday by being everywhere on the floor.
He scored just six points in the game but head coach Greg Gard, his impact was beyond the scoresheet.
He was there when they needed someone to provide a spark when their number one scorer was out due to foul trouble.
Janicki played 22 minutes out of necessity as reliever for John Tonje who was limited by foul trouble.
Tonje got his fourth foul of the game at the 8:48 mark of the second half when the Badgers had a 51-50 lead. Lu’Cye Patterson, who was the Golden Gopher’s top scorer in the game, immediately nailed a three-pointer to steal the lead.
Wisconsin did not panic and Janicki lulled them to score a lay-up to tie the game at 53. He got to the basket many times although he missed but he steadied the ship and distrubuted the ball to help his team be in command again.
He made a jumper at the 4:47 mark to stretch make it a two-possession ball game, 61-56. He followed it up with another lay-up and made two more assists for Carter Gilmore and John Tonje. Badgers lead 67-61, with 1:48 remaining.
Tonje finished the game with a 18 points while John Blackwell led everyone with his 25 points.
The team was in command from that point and they won the game, 74-67.
Greg Gard has high praise for Jack Janicki
A freshman fulfilling the role of the senior? There might be some anxiousness in play.
That’s what Gard observed Janicki during that fourth quarter stretch when Tonje was forced to warm the bench.
However, he immediately adjusted and became a steady force on the floor for the Wisconsin Badgers. This left Gard amazed of the kid.
He’s always playing with a lot of energy and playing fast. But I thought he over-pursued some things early. He was going a little bit too fast. He settled in. His activity obviously was huge in terms of buckets, deflections, things he does, with his activity. That’s probably the best word I can come up with for him right now. And we needed him, with [John] Tonje in some foul trouble. He had to play a lot of minutes and he was able to produce and help us.
Janicki, who actually hails from Minnesota, and the rest of the Badgers will return to action on Saturday to wrap up their regular season against the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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