Wisconsin is peaking on the proper time.
On Saturday, the Badgers superior to the Large Ten match championship sport after upsetting Purdue, the match’s No. 1 seed, 76-75 in extra time.
Wisconsin pulled off the stunner after junior guard Chucky Hepburn made a tying two-point try off the glass on the buzzer in regulation.
In extra time, fellow junior guard Max Klesmit, who joined Wisconsin final season after two years at Wofford, hit the profitable floater with 4.8 seconds remaining.
Head coach Greg Gard praised his group’s execution down the stretch and famous its enchancment through the Large Ten match.
“We’re enjoying rather well. We have got all our items,” mentioned Gard.
Hepburn was 9-of-12 from the sector and led the group with 22 factors, advancing the Badgers to their first Large Ten convention match championship sport since 2017.
They have not received a Large Ten match since 2015, after they entered the NCAA Event as a No. 1 seed and reached the nationwide championship sport earlier than dropping to Duke.
Wisconsin missed March Insanity final season and started the 2023-24 marketing campaign unranked within the Related Press high 25 ballot.
It entered the rankings for the primary time on Dec. 4, peaked at No. 6 on Jan. 29 and fell off the ballot on Feb. 19.
Wisconsin entered the Large Ten match have gone simply 3-8 in its final 11 video games, wanting like an eventual one-and-done within the huge dance. That stretch included two losses to Purdue, which had received six in a row coming into Saturday’s sport.
As a substitute, the Badgers seem to have returned to their early-to-midseason kind from mid-November by means of January. Throughout that span, they went 15-2, shot 37.1 % from past the arc and outscored opponents by a mean of 10.4 factors per sport.
Wisconsin already proved as soon as that it will possibly get scorching for an prolonged interval. We’ll see how far this second peak extends.
