2018–19 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Badgers were led by fourth-year head coach Greg Gard and played their home games at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 23–11, 14–6 in Big Ten play to finish in fourth place.^[1][2] In the Big Ten tournament, the Badgers defeated Nebraska in the quarterfinals^[3] before losing to Michigan State in the semifinals.^[4] They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 5 seed in the South Region, their 24th trip to the NCAA Tournament. They were upset in the First Round by No. 12-seeded Oregon.^[5]

2018–19 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball
NCAA tournament, First Round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 24
AP	No. 21
Record	23–11 (14–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Greg Gard (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Howard Moore Joe Krabbenhoft Dean Oliver
Home arena	Kohl Center (Capacity 17,287)
Seasons ← 2017–18 2019–20 →

2018–19 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Michigan State †	16	–	4		.800			32	–	7		.821
No. 13 Purdue	16	–	4		.800			26	–	10		.722
No. 8 Michigan	15	–	5		.750			30	–	7		.811
No. 21 Wisconsin	14	–	6		.700			23	–	11		.676
Maryland	13	–	7		.650			23	–	11		.676
Iowa	10	–	10		.500			23	–	12		.657
Minnesota	9	–	11		.450			22	–	14		.611
Ohio State	8	–	12		.400			20	–	15		.571
Indiana	8	–	12		.400			19	–	16		.543
Penn State	7	–	13		.350			14	–	18		.438
Illinois	7	–	13		.350			12	–	21		.364
Rutgers	7	–	13		.350			14	–	17		.452
Nebraska	6	–	14		.300			19	–	17		.528
Northwestern	4	–	16		.200			13	–	19		.406
† 2019 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Previous season

The Badgers finished the 2017–18 season 15–18, 7–11 in Big Ten play to finish in ninth place. They defeated eighth-seeded Maryland in the Big Ten tournament, but lost to top-seeded Michigan State in the next round. They failed to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998.^[6]

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Matt Ferris	4	G	6'6"	205	RS Junior	Appleton, WI	Graduated[7]
Aaron Moesch	5	F	6'8"	220	RS Senior	Green Bay, WI	Graduated[7]
T. J. Schlundt	20	G	6'5"	197	RS Junior	Oconomowoc, WI	Graduated[7]
Alex Illikainen	25	F	6'9"	231	Senior	Grand Rapids, MN	Quit prior to season; transferred to University of Minnesota Duluth (D2) after fall semester[8]
Andy Van Vliet	33	F	7'0"	228	Junior	Antwerp, Belgium	Transferred to William & Mary[9]

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Micah Potter	11	C	6'9"	240	Junior	Mentor, OH	Transferred from Ohio State. Under NCAA transfer rules, Potter will have to sit out for the 2018–19 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility.
Owen Hamilton	30	C	7'0"	266	Sophomore	Prescott, WI	Walk-on; transferred from Northern Illinois

Returning players

Redshirt junior forward Ethan Happ announced his intent to enter the NBA draft on April 2, 2018 without hiring an agent.^[10] He withdrew himself from the draft on May 30 after not being invited to the combine.^[11][12]

2018 Recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Joe Hedstrom C	Minnetonka, MN	Hopkins High School	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Oct 11, 2017
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals: N/A   247Sports:    ESPN grade: N/A
Taylor Currie PF	Clarkston, MI	Clarkston High School	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Oct 31, 2017
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN grade: N/A
Tai Strickland PG	Tampa, FL	St. Petersburg High School	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Mar 27, 2018
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 79
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2018 Wisconsin Commitments". Rivals.com. "Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. "ESPN- Wisconsin Badgers Men's Basketball Recruiting". ESPN.com. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Roster

2018–19 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 0 D'Mitrik Trice 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 187 lb (85 kg) RS So Wayne High School (OH) Huber Heights, Ohio G 1 Brevin Pritzl 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 198 lb (90 kg) RS Jr De Pere High School De Pere, Wisconsin F 2 Aleem Ford 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) RS So Archer High School Lawrenceville, Georgia G 3 Walt McGrory (W) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Edina High School Edina, Minnesota G 4 Carter Higginbottom (W)  6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 183 lb (83 kg) Fr St. Ignatius College Prep (IL) Chicago, Illinois F 11 Micah Potter  6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Jr Montverde Academy/Ohio State Mentor, Ohio G 12 Trevor Anderson  (W) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 201 lb (91 kg) RS So Stevens Point H.S./Green Bay Stevens Point, Wisconsin G 13 Tai Strickland 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 172 lb (78 kg) Fr St. Petersburg High School Tampa, Florida F 15 Charles Thomas IV 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Sr River Hill High School Highland, Maryland G/F 21 Khalil Iverson 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 217 lb (98 kg) Sr Rutherford B. Hayes High School (OH) Delaware, Ohio F 22 Ethan Happ 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 237 lb (108 kg) RS Sr Rockridge High School Milan, Illinois G 23 Kobe King 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 203 lb (92 kg) RS Fr La Crosse Central High School La Crosse, Wisconsin C 30 Owen Hamilton (W)  7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 266 lb (121 kg) So Prescott H.S. (WI)/Northern Illinois Prescott, Wisconsin G 31 Michael Ballard (W) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 197 lb (89 kg) RS So Fenwick High School (IL) Oak Park, Illinois C 32 Joe Hedstrom (W)  7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 223 lb (101 kg) Fr Hopkins High School Hopkins, Minnesota F 33 Taylor Currie  6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 226 lb (103 kg) Fr Clarkston High School (MI) Clarkston, Michigan G 34 Brad Davison 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 206 lb (93 kg) So Maple Grove High School Maple Grove, Minnesota F 35 Nate Reuvers 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 240 lb (109 kg) So Lakeville North High School Lakeville, Minnesota	Head coach Greg Gard (UW-Platteville) Assistant coach(es) Howard Moore (Wisconsin) Joe Krabbenhoft (Wisconsin) Dean Oliver (Iowa) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 2, 2018* 7:00 pm, BTN Plus		UW–Oshkosh	W 82–70	–	16 – Davison	7 – Pritzl	4 – Tied	Kohl Center (–) Madison, WI
Regular season
November 6, 2018* 7:00 pm, BTN Plus		Coppin State	W 85–63	1–0	21 – Trice	11 – Happ	12 – Happ	Kohl Center (17,287) Madison, WI
November 13, 2018* 5:30 pm, FS1		at Xavier Gavitt Tipoff Games	W 77–68	2–0	30 – Happ	13 – Happ	5 – Tied	Cintas Center (10,312) Cincinnati, OH
November 17, 2018* 7:00 pm, BTN		Houston Baptist	W 96–59	3–0	17 – Pritzl	12 – Happ	6 – Happ	Kohl Center (17,287) Madison, WI
November 21, 2018* 1:30 pm, ESPN	No. 25	vs. Stanford Battle 4 Atlantis Quarterfinals	W 62–46	4–0	16 – Tied	12 – Tied	1 – Tied	Imperial Arena (1,573) Nassau, BAH
November 22, 2018* 12:30 pm, ESPN	No. 25	vs. Oklahoma Battle 4 Atlantis Semifinals	W 78–58	5–0	25 – Trice	12 – Happ	5 – Happ	Imperial Arena (1,182) Nassau, BAH
November 23, 2018* 1:00 pm, ESPN	No. 25	vs. No. 4 Virginia Battle 4 Atlantis Championship	L 46–53	5–1	22 – Happ	15 – Happ	6 – Happ	Imperial Arena (2,249) Nassau, BAH
November 27, 2018* 8:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 22	NC State ACC–Big Ten Challenge	W 79–75	6–1	19 – Happ	11 – Happ	6 – Trice	Kohl Center (17,012) Madison, WI
November 30, 2018 7:00 pm, BTN	No. 22	at No. 14 Iowa	W 72–66	7–1 (1–0)	20 – Trice	7 – Tied	5 – Happ	Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,056) Iowa City, IA
December 3, 2018 7:00 pm, BTN	No. 12	Rutgers	W 69–64	8–1 (2–0)	20 – Happ	4 – Tied	3 – Happ	Kohl Center (17,082) Madison, WI
December 8, 2018* 4:00 pm, FOX	No. 12	at Marquette Rivalry	L 69–74 OT	8–2	34 – Happ	11 – Happ	4 – Happ	Fiserv Forum (17,515) Milwaukee, WI
December 13, 2018* 7:00 pm, BTN	No. 16	Savannah State	W 101–60	9–2	24 – Davison	11 – Happ	6 – Tied	Kohl Center (17,004) Madison, WI
December 22, 2018* 11:00 am, BTN	No. 16	Grambling State	W 84–53	10–2	19 – Happ	8 – Happ	5 – Happ	Kohl Center (17,183) Madison, WI
December 29, 2018* 4:30 pm, CBSSN	No. 15	at Western Kentucky	L 76–83	10–3	26 – Davison	12 – Happ	3 – Tied	E.A. Diddle Arena (7,614) Bowling Green, KY
January 3, 2019 8:00 pm, BTN	No. 22	Minnesota	L 52–59	10–4 (2–1)	17 – Happ	8 – Happ	3 – Happ	Kohl Center (16,687) Madison, WI
January 6, 2019 6:30 pm, BTN	No. 22	at Penn State	W 71–52	11–4 (3–1)	22 – Happ	8 – Happ	4 – Tied	Bryce Jordan Center (8,342) University Park, PA
January 11, 2019 8:00 pm, FS1		Purdue	L 80–84 OT	11–5 (3–2)	31 – Happ	13 – Happ	6 – Happ	Kohl Center (17,187) Madison, WI
January 14, 2019 7:30 pm, FS1		at No. 19 Maryland	L 60–64	11–6 (3–3)	18 – Reuvers	8 – Happ	5 – Trice	Xfinity Center (12,894) College Park, MD
January 19, 2019 11:00 am, ESPN		No. 2 Michigan	W 64–54	12–6 (4–3)	26 – Happ	10 – Happ	7 – Happ	Kohl Center (17,287) Madison, WI
January 23, 2019 8:00 pm, BTN		at Illinois	W 72–60	13–6 (5–3)	22 – Reuvers	10 – Reuvers	6 – Happ	State Farm Center (12,294) Champaign, IL
January 26, 2019 1:15 pm, BTN		Northwestern	W 62–46	14–6 (6–3)	18 – Tied	12 – Happ	11 – Happ	Kohl Center (17,287) Madison, WI
January 29, 2019 7:00 pm, BTN	No. 24	at Nebraska	W 62–51	15–6 (7–3)	13 – Davison	9 – Happ	4 – Happ	Pinnacle Bank Arena (15,739) Lincoln, NE
February 1, 2019 8:00 pm, FS1	No. 24	No. 21 Maryland	W 69–61	16–6 (8–3)	21 – Davison	11 – Happ	6 – Happ	Kohl Center (17,287) Madison, WI
February 6, 2019 8:00 pm, BTN	No. 19	at Minnesota	W 56–51	17–6 (9–3)	15 – Happ	13 – Happ	4 – Happ	Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN
February 9, 2019 11:00 am, FOX	No. 19	at No. 7 Michigan	L 52–61	17–7 (9–4)	18 – Happ	11 – Happ	1 – Tied	Crisler Center (12,707) Ann Arbor, MI
February 12, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 20	No. 11 Michigan State	L 59–67	17–8 (9–5)	20 – Happ	12 – Happ	3 – Tied	Kohl Center (17,287) Madison, WI
February 18, 2019 7:00 pm, FS1	No. 22	Illinois	W 64–58	18–8 (10–5)	18 – Davison	10 – Pritzl	3 – Davison	Kohl Center (17,152) Madison, WI
February 23, 2019 7:30 pm, BTN	No. 22	at Northwestern	W 69–64	19–8 (11–5)	16 – Davison	10 – Happ	3 – Tied	Welsh–Ryan Arena (7,039) Evanston, IL
February 26, 2019 8:00 pm, ESPN	No. 19	at Indiana	L 73–75 2OT	19–9 (11–6)	23 – Happ	11 – Happ	4 – Happ	Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (17,222) Bloomington, IN
March 2, 2019 12:00 pm, BTN	No. 19	Penn State	W 61–57	20–9 (12–6)	17 – Pritzl	9 – Reuvers	5 – Happ	Kohl Center (17,287) Madison, WI
March 7, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN	No. 21	Iowa	W 65–45	21–9 (13–6)	21 – Happ	14 – Happ	4 – Trice	Kohl Center (17,287) Madison, WI
March 10, 2019 3:30 pm, CBS	No. 21	at Ohio State	W 73–67 OT	22–9 (14–6)	22 – Iverson	14 – Tied	8 – Happ	Value City Arena (18,231) Columbus, OH
Big Ten tournament
March 15, 2019 2:00 pm, BTN	(4) No. 19	vs. (13) Nebraska Quarterfinals	W 66–62	23–9	14 – Tied	7 – Happ	4 – Tied	United Center (17,369) Chicago, IL
March 16, 2019 12:00 pm, CBS	(4) No. 19	vs. (1) No. 6 Michigan State Semifinals	L 55–67	23–10	20 – Happ	6 – Happ	3 – Happ	United Center (18,468) Chicago, IL
NCAA tournament
March 22, 2019* 3:30 pm, TBS	(5 S) No. 21	vs. (12 S) Oregon First Round	L 54–72	23–11	12 – Tied	8 – Happ	5 – Trice	SAP Center (14,331) San Jose, CA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=South. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

See also: 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final
AP	RV	RV	RV	25	22	12	16	16	15	22	RV	RV	RV	24	19	20	22	19	21	19	21
Coaches	RV	—	—	RV	22	16	19	17	16	23	RV	RV	RV	23	19	23	23	18	21	19	21

^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings

Player statistics

Individual player statistics^[13]

			Minutes		Scoring		Total FGs			3-point FGs			Free throws			Rebounds
Player	GP	GS	Tot	Avg	Pts	Avg	FG	FGA	Pct	3FG	3FA	Pct	FT	FTA	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Avg	A	TO	Blk	Stl	PF
Happ, Ethan	34	34	1089	32.0	589	17.3	257	485	.530	0	5	.000	75	161	.466	77	265	342	10.1	153	104	44	38	87
Trice, D'Mitrik	34	34	1107	32.6	393	11.6	133	346	.384	76	195	.390	51	68	.750	6	88	94	2.8	90	45	1	30	65
Davison, Brad	34	34	1096	32.2	358	10.5	115	299	.385	52	149	.349	76	94	.809	10	101	111	3.3	62	34	2	36	79
Reuvers, Nate	34	34	779	22.9	268	7.9	105	234	.449	32	84	.381	26	41	.634	42	91	133	3.9	34	32	60	10	81
Iverson, Khalil	33	33	810	24.5	227	6.9	89	164	.543	1	6	.167	48	77	.623	48	102	150	4.5	30	36	13	31	58
Pritzl, Brevin	34	0	668	19.6	162	4.8	50	108	.463	32	78	.410	30	36	.833	15	68	83	2.4	17	10	3	10	36
King, Kobe	34	1	646	19.0	144	4.2	55	123	.447	15	49	.306	19	29	.655	20	53	73	2.1	17	17	3	9	27
Ford, Aleem	31	0	429	13.8	97	3.1	35	103	.340	23	80	.288	4	4	1.000	11	48	59	1.9	11	16	4	8	44
Strickland, Tai	16	0	50	3.1	28	1.8	9	23	.391	4	8	.500	6	8	.750	1	4	5	0.3	7	5	0	2	5
Anderson, Trevor	8	0	55	6.9	13	1.6	6	10	.600	1	1	1.000	0	0	.000	1	8	9	1.1	3	1	0	0	3
Thomas IV, Charles	29	0	147	5.1	46	1.6	18	41	.439	3	10	.300	7	11	.636	18	18	36	1.2	5	9	10	3	23
McGrory, Walt	13	0	31	2.4	6	0.5	2	5	.400	2	4	.500	0	0	.000	0	2	2	0.2	1	2	0	0	2
Ballard, Michael	9	0	17	1.9	2	0.2	0	4	.000	0	3	.000	2	2	1.000	2	1	3	0.3	0	0	0	0	2
Total	34	-	6924	-	2333	68.6	874	1945	.449	241	672	.359	344	531	.648	285	912	1197	35.2	430	328	140	177	512
Opponents	34	-	6927	-	2099	61.7	774	1950	.397	215	682	.315	336	503	.668	328	878	1206	35.5	352	386	138	176	591

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	Avg	Average per game
FG	Field goals made	FGA	Field goal attempts	Off	Offensive rebounds
Def	Defensive rebounds	A	Assists	TO	Turnovers
Blk	Blocks	Stl	Steals	High	Team high

References

1. "Wisconsin Badgers Stats 2018–19". ESPN. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
2. Potrykus, Jeff (March 10, 2019). "UW 73, Ohio State 67: Badgers escape with an OT victory and earn a double-bye in Big Ten tournament". Retrieved March 17, 2019.
3. "No. 19 Wisconsin tops Nebraska 66–62 in Big 10 tourney". ESPN. Associated Press. March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
4. "Winston, Goins lead No. 6 Michigan State into Big Ten final". ESPN. March 17, 2019. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
5. "Run for Happ, Badgers ends with 72–54 loss to Oregon". Fox Sports. Associated Press. March 22, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
6. "Tai Strickland, son of former NBA guard, signs with Wisconsin". ESPN. Associated Press. April 11, 2018.
7. Lucas, Mike (February 25, 2018). "'The best four years of my life'". Varsity Magazine.
8. "Former Wisconsin Forward Alex Illikainen Commits to Minnesota-Duluth". Badgers Wire. April 17, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
9. "Reserve Van Vliet transferring from Wisconsin". ESPN. Associated Press. March 14, 2018.
10. "Ohio State Buckeyes". Dayton Daily News.
11. Potrykus, Jeff (May 30, 2018). "As expected, Ethan Happ opts to return to Wisconsin for his final season". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
12. "Ethan Happ to return to Wisconsin for senior season". Wisconsin Athletics. May 30, 2018.
13. "2018–19 Wisconsin Cumulative Statistics" (PDF). Wisconsin Badgers. Retrieved May 29, 2020.