Wisconsin Basketball Defeats Arkansas State 105-76: Here’s What Stood Out

On Monday night, Greg Gard and the Wisconsin Badgers basketball program welcomed head coach Bryan Hodgson & his Arkansas State team to the Kohl Center for the season opener. 

The Badgers, who took the lead 20 seconds into the game, never looked back and walked away with a convincing 105-76 win over the Red Wolves while setting a new Kohl Center scoring record. UW has now won 25 of its last 26 home openers. 

Here are a few things that stood out from the Wisconsin Badgers season-opening win over Arkansas State. 

Wisconsin Basketball Found Its Missing Piece

For all of last season’s shortcomings, the Wisconsin basketball program found what it was missing in the transfer portal when Greg Gard landed sophomore small forward AJ Storr.

The Illinois native finished with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting and chipped in two rebounds, two assists, and a block. By my estimation, he looked like the best player on the court by a wide margin. His athleticism pops.

Hand in his face or not, @storr_aj is putting that in the basket 💪

Stream on @BigTenPlus pic.twitter.com/zrLCTtW8cH

— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) November 7, 2023

Storr is an absolute weapon in transition, which will be an exciting element to monitor throughout the season — and could be the key to opening up the Wisconsin basketball offense in 2023-24.

Stock up.

Wisconsin Basketball Has Much Better Depth Than a Year Ago

I understand that it’s the opening game of the season against a team that finished second to last in the Sun Belt last season — but the Wisconsin Badgers have considerably more playable depth than a year ago. 

In the first nine minutes, UW rolled out Nolan Winter, Carter Gilmore, Connor Essegian, and John Blackwell. I wouldn’t be shocked if that were the core group of rotation players this season. I also feel safe in saying they’ll produce far more counting stats than the Badgers bench did last year — even though every game won’t look like this one. 

Markus Ilver and Isaac Lindsey also saw meaningful minutes — with Kamari McGee sprinkled in a little bit as well. The rotation will obviously tighten up against some of the tougher opponents, but it’s hard not to feel good about what we saw tonight. 

Overall, the Wisconsin basketball bench combined to register 39 points, 22 rebounds, and two assists. Not too shabby. 

Other Wisconsin Badgers Musings

Chucky Hepburn looked phenomenal against Arkansas State. The junior point guard finished with a team-high 20 points and six assists on 6-of-10 shooting — while only turning the ball over twice.

He slimmed down to help Wisconsin push the pace — let’s just say the early returns are promising.

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John Blackwell has the goods. It’s one game against an inferior opponent, but I feel confident in saying he’s a keeper for Greg Gard.

In his first career game, Blackwell scored 12 points on 3-of-3 shooting and grabbed four rebounds. More importantly, he turned his aggressive playing style into trips to the free throw line — where he made 5-of-7 attempts.

The tenacity and confidence he plays with will make him a nice weapon off the bench, regardless of the amount of playing time he sees this year.

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It was incredibly disappointing that Connor Essegian exited early with an upper-body injury and didn’t return to the game. However, the Badgers turned to shooting guard Isaac Lindsey, who put together a strong outing in relief.

The walk-on chipped in eight points on 3-of-6 shooting in 17 minutes. Overall, he did some nice things on both ends of the floor. Having him somewhere between your 10th and 12th guy in the rotation is an excellent spot to be in.

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Wisconsin basketball moved the ball exceptionally well — and the overall flow of the offense looked ten times better than it did in most of the games last year.

The most encouraging part is that when the players who are lower on the totem poll entered the game, the offense didn’t stall out. UW finished the game averaging 1.346 points per possession. Yeah, that’ll play.

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My last note is that Nolan Winter works his ass off for everything he gets. It wasn’t a perfect game, but the Minnesota native finished with six points on 3-of-3 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.

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Next up for the Wisconsin basketball team is a non-conference matchup against Rich Barnes and the No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers at the Kohl Center.

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