Wisconsin Basketball: 3 Takeaways From Win Over USC
Wisconsin Basketball defeated USC 64-59 in the Bahamas on Friday afternoon, improving to 5-1 on the season.
Three games in three days. That's what Wisconsin basketball signed up for when they accepted the invitation to play in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis.
After yesterday's heartbreaking loss at the buzzer against No. 3 Kansas, UW (5-1) won a back-and-fourth game against USC, defeating the Trojans 64-59 behind a 17-point bounce-back performance from sophomore point guard Chucky Hepburn.
UW also got meaningful contributions from Tyler Wahl, who finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, and three assists, along with freshman Connor Essegian who scored 12 of his own, knocking down four three-pointers.
What we learned about this team during the three-day holiday tournament should give Badgers fans plenty of hope for the future.
Here are my takeaways from Wisconsin's win over USC...
Chucky Hepburn bounced back in a major way
Nobody entered today's contest needing to see the ball go in more than Chucky Hepburn, who came in shooting a paltry 26.8% from the field.
It's been painfully evident that Hepburn's forced the issue thus far and needed to slow things down and let the game come to him.
Against the Trojans, Hepburn finished with a game-high 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, connected on a trio of threes, recorded two steals, and matched a season-low one turnover in 31 minutes.
The biggest play of the game for Hepburn came up 62-59 with 20 seconds remaining. Needing one last stop, the Nebraska native put a bow on UW's third-place finish by picking the pocket of USC's best player, Drew Peterson, and taking it the other way for an easy bucket, putting the game out of reach.