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Illikainen leaving Wisconsin basketball

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Alex Illikainen

Wisconsin senior forward Alex Illikainen has left the Wisconsin men’s basketball program, but will remain enrolled at the school.

Illikainen didn’t play in the Badgers’ 85-63 season-opening home victory over Coppin State last week.  Twelve different players appeared in that game, including a pair of walk-ons, but Illikainen didn’t see any playing time.

In 85 career games, Illikainen averaged 1.5 points and 1.3 rebounds.  He averaged 9.8 minutes a game as a freshman, 8.3 minutes a game as a sophomore and 6.8 minutes a game last year as a junior.

Illikainen becomes the second member of Wisconsin’s five-man recruiting class to leave the program.  Forward Andy Van Vliet also left the program and transferred to William & Mary following the 2017-18 season.

Van Vliet leaving Wisconsin

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Andy Van Vliet

Junior forward Andy Van Vliet has decided to leave the Wisconsin men’s basketball program and has been granted his release to explore transfer options.

“After meeting with the coaching staff last week, I have made the decision to leave the University of Wisconsin and pursue my academic and athletic goals at another Division 1 school,” Van Vliet said in a post on his Twitter account.  “I want to thank coach Ryan and coach Close for giving me the opportunity to come to a world-class university and not only develop as a basketball player, but as a man.  When I made the difficult decision to leave my country and come here to play, Wisconsin was my first choice.  Wisconsin has taught me a lot of things and I have grown and matured because of the challenges and experiences I have had here.  My only regret is not being able to finish what I have started, but this school and community will always hold a special place in my heart.”

Van Vliet appeared in 31 games over two seasons at Wisconsin.  The Antwerp, Belgium, native averaged 3.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 17 games in 2017-18, notching career highs of 18 points and eight rebounds vs. South Carolina State.

Badgers extend win streak to three

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The Wisconsin Badgers extended their Big Ten win streak to three, knocking off Northwestern 70-64 Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

Ethan Happ led four Badgers in double figures with 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks and four steals.  Fifteen of his 19 points came in the second half.

Junior forward Khalil Iverson added 16 points and 6 rebounds, but the surprise in the group came from big man Andy Van Vliet, who scored 14 points in the win.

Van Vliet entered the night having played just 14 minutes in four Big Ten games and a total of 94 minutes in 13 games overall.  Thursday night, Van Vliet hit 4 of 6 from three-point range as Coach Greg Gard attempted to pull Northwestern out of its zone defense.  The plan worked as the Wildcats picked up the Badgers in man-to-man in the second half.

Wisconsin hit just 7 of 26 three-pointers in the teams’ first meeting in Madison.  The Wildcats jumped out to an 18-1 lead and beat UW  60-52.  The Badgers adjusted and returned the favor Thursday night.

Sophomore guard Brevin Pritzl added 11 points and hit a crucial three pointer to give the Badgers a 68-64 lead with 27 seconds left to play. [Read more…]

Iverson leads Badgers past Yale

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Khalil Iverson

Khalil Iverson scored a college career high 17 points on 8 of 9 shooting to lead the Wisconsin Badgers to a 89-61 win over Yale at the Kohl Center on Sunday evening.

Wisconsin (2-0) built a 43-22 halftime lead and Iverson hit 6 of 7 from the field for 13 points to lead the way.

Iverson played much better than he did in last week’s opener, where he didn’t attempt and committed four turnovers in 22 minutes.  In that game, Iverson was playing just one night after the three-year anniversary of his fathers’ death and admitted it still bothers him.

The Badgers hit 3 of their first 5 three-pointers but then struggled the rest of the night and finished 7 of 22.  But the Badgers scored 46 points inside on 31 of 61 (50.8%) shooting and converted 20 of 26 free throws.

Ethan Happ recorded his second straight double-double, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds.  He felt some discomfort in his left knee in the final minute of the first half but said he felt fine in the second half while using a protective sleeve on his leg. [Read more…]

UW rolls to season opening win

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Andy Van Vliet

The Wisconsin men’s basketball team rolled to a 85-50 season opening win over South Carolina State at the Kohl Center on Friday night.

After playing just 48 minutes all of last season, seven-foot forward Andy Van Vliet got his first opportunity last night and delivered an 18 point, eight rebound performance in the win.  Van Vliet hit 4 of 5 three-pointers and 7 of 11 shots overall.

Ethan Happ led the Badgers with 20 points and 11 rebounds.  Redshirt sophomore Brevin Pritzl added 17 points and sophomore guard D’Mitrik Trice had 13 points.

Wisconsin had 18 assists but turned it over 13 times.

The Badgers return to action Sunday evening (5pm) against Yale.

AUDIO: Andy Van Vliet on his opportunity :19

 

Badger basketball team wraps up trip “down under”

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The Wisconsin Badger men’s basketball team wrapped up their international tour with an 83-71 win over the Sydney Kings on Tuesday.  Wisconsin freshman Brad Davison led Wisconsin with 25 points, marking the fifth different player to lead the team in scoring during the five-game trip.

Travis Trice had 16 points and Ethan Happ added 15 points, finishing the trip averaging 12-points a game.

During the five games, the Badgers were led in scoring by sophomore Brevin Pritzl, junior Andy Van Vliet, freshman Kobe King, sophomore D’Mitrik Trice and Davison.

The Badgers shot 40% from three-point range, going 8-for-20 from distance.  They also hit 15 of 18 free throws and outrebounded the Kings 36-24.

Badgers dialing long distance in New Zealand

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Andy Van Vliet

The Wisconsin men’s basketball team hit 15 of 27 three-pointers (55.6%) and rolled to a 87-53 win over the New Zealand Breakers on Thursday morning in Tauranga, New Zealand.

Junior Andy Van Vliet made his first start as a Badger and led the way with 14 points.  Sophomore point guard D’Mitrik Trice added 12 points, while freshmen Kobe King and Nathan Reuvers each scored 9 points for Wisconsin (2-0).

The Badgers changed their starting lineup.  Besides sophomore Brevin Pritzl, coach Greg Gard went with freshman Brad Davison, redshirt freshman Aleem Ford, Van Vliet and junior Charlie Thomas.  That group helped the Badgers jump out to a 11-0 lead.

Defensively, the Badgers held the Breakers to 29.7% shooting from the field and 3-for-21 (14.3%) from three-point range.

The Badgers now head to Melbourne, Australia for the third game of their five game trip.  They’ll face the Hawthorn Magic on Friday.

Badgers beat North Dakota, Van Vliet ruled ineligible

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Andy Van Vliet

Andy Van Vliet

All five Wisconsin starters scored in double figures as the Badgers knocked off North Dakota 78-64 at the Kohl Center on Tuesday night.

Wisconsin went up 13 at halftime, then a ten-to-one second half run sealed the victory.

Redshirt freshman Ethan Happ and Bronson Koenig led the Badgers with 17 points each.  Geno Crandall had 19 off the bench for North Dakota.

The Badgers (2-1) hit the road for the first time this season.  They’ll face Georgetown on Friday afternoon (4pm) at Madison Square Garden.

Van Vliet ineligible [Read more…]

Badgers cruise in exhibition opener

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Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan: (Photo by David Stluka)

Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan: (Photo by David Stluka)

The Wisconsin men’s basketball team knocked off division-three U-W River Falls 101-46 on Wednesday night at the Kohl Center.

Six Badgers scored in double figures, led by Nigel Hayes and redshirt freshman Ethan Happ with 16 points each.

The Badgers shot 54-percent from the field and held the Falcons to 21-percent.

The Badgers didn’t have freshman Andy Van Vliet due to an eligibility issue.  If Wisconsin doesn’t win an appeal in the matter, the 6’11 center may have to sit out a year.

According  to university officials, Van Vliet played as an amateur outside of a one-year period following his expected graduation date.  The U-W was rejected in obtaining an N-C-A-A waiver that cited factors beyond the player’s control.  The 20-year-old Van Vliet played for the Antwerp Giants and the Belgian national team before arriving at Madison in August.

The University says it would file an appeal as soon as possible.  Coach Bo Ryan called it an unusual circumstance.

Wisconsin opens its regular season at home November 13th against Western Illinois.

AUDIO: Bo Ryan says there was some good and some bad :11

AUDIO: Bo Ryan liked what Ethan Happ did :18