Wisconsin Basketball: Chucky Hepburn Rises to the Occasion

It’s been an unusually quiet season on the offensive end for Chucky Hepburn. The Wisconsin basketball junior point guard has turned into a facilitator and defensive specialist, taking a back seat to AJ Storr, Max Klesmit, Steven Crowl, and others.

Hepburn has went from averaging over 12 a game last season to 8 points per game during the 2023-2024 campaign. But his move to more of a facilitator has been well received and worked out well with the weapons around him.

However, down the stretch when we saw Wisconsin basketball drop four straight, I started to wonder whether Hepburn would take things into his own hands. And that’s what he did Saturday afternoon in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal win against Purdue.

How Hepburn Stepped Up When Needed

Believe it or not, Hepburn had only scored 20 points once this season against Arkansas State. But the junior quietly dropped 22 in the upset win over the Boilermakers.

Most of the first half, Wisconsin basketball was carried by Storr, Klesmit and Crowl offensively. But when things got ugly in the second half, one thing was consistent — Hepburn.

The Nebraska native shot 9-12 from the field, and 1-2 from three. He didn’t settle, but instead waited for the right moment when Zach Edey would get pulled away from the basket and attack.

His patience and feel for the game on the offensive end was most prevalent on the final play of regulation. Greg Gard called same same play the team ran against Xavier for Bronson Koenig in the NCAA tournament. But, instead of settling for a tough three, Hepburn slashed to the hoop as Edey was momentarily pulled away, and made a clutch layup to get the game to overtime.

Earlier in the season Hepburn may have just settled for the three or played facilitator and found a teammate. But instead he was assertive. Exactly what they needed at the right time.

To send the game into overtime, #Badgers ran the same play they beat Xavier with in the NCAA Tournament.

Purdue shut off the '3' and Chucky Hepburn adapted.

Joe Krabbenhoft said everyone in the huddle yelled "Bronson Koenig."

He happened to be here tonight.

— Evan Flood (@Evan_Flood) March 16, 2024

But you also can’t forget that Hepburn also dogged Purdue guard Braden Smith all day on the defensive end. The biggest play being when he fought around an Edey screen to get in strong guarding position. He then took a hard Smith forearm to the chest and fell over, sending the point guard to the bench with five fouls.

Hepburn doesn’t always do things that show up on the stat sheet, but everything he did Saturday was certainly well received.

Will Hepburn Continue Stay Assertive For Wisconsin Basketball?

Only time will tell if Hepburn continues to stay aggressive when needed in March.

Gard and co. definitely need to make it known to him all of the good that happens when he is assertive. As we know, the Wisconsin basketball offense can be streaky, especially from the three point line.

The good thing is that Hepburn likely won’t always need to be as assertive as he was Saturday. His big men likely won’t see foul trouble as quickly as they did. And they  certainly won’t see a 7 foot 4 center for the rest of the year.

But for UW fans, it’s great to know that it’s in his bag. The leader of this Badger team isn’t Storr, Crowl, or Klesmit, but rather it is Hepburn. And the point guard reminded us of that Saturday.

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