Wisconsin Basketball Hosting Former OVC Player of the Year on Visit

Greg Gard and the University of Wisconsin basketball program will host the former Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year on a visit.

Morehead State transfer point guard Mark Freeman confirmed to Badgernotes.com that he is planning to visit with the Badgers and is in the process of setting up a date to check out Madison.

Memphis, Auburn, James Madison, Cal, and several others schools are also in the mix.

Freeman was coming off an impressive 2022-23 campaign where he averaged 15.0 points and 3.7 assists on 36.2% shooting beyond the arc before missing last season due to a wrist injury.

According to Synergy, Freeman averaged 0.929 points per possession, placing him in the 62nd percentile in college basketball. Additionally, he averaged 1.292 points per possession in transition, which put him in the 86th percentile.

Beginning his career at Tennessee State in the 2019-20 season, Freeman came into his own the following year, boasting 20 starts and pouring in an average of 17.1 points and 4.6 assists per game. After a stint at Illinois State, Freeman eventually re-captured his stride at Morehead State, where he earned conference player of the year honors.

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound guard has played in 113 games, starting 80, during his career and will have one year of eligibility remaining.

Wisconsin Basketball Looking for Backcourt Depth in Portal 

Coach Gard has been aggressively pursuing replacement options for Chucky Hepburn, who entered the transfer portal after three seasons as the Wisconsin basketball team’s point guard. 

“In today’s college basketball, players are making transactional decisions all over the country at every level,” Gard said. “There’s no time to complain about the system in place. We’re dedicating all of our energy right now into finding the next fits for our program.”

While the Badgers do have a fair amount of backcourt depth headed into 2024-25 in Max Klesmit, John Blackwell, Kamari McGee, and incoming freshman Daniel Freitag, Wisconsin could also use some bucket-getters. 

Freeman fits that mold as a potential volume-scoring option who could complement the returning cast of guards quite well. It’s also worth noting that the Tennessee native only allowed 0.717 points per possession on defense two seasons ago, placing him in the 88th percentile.

Wisconsin basketball has also been linked to transfer portal guards such as Tyrese Hunter from Texas and Jaden Schutt from Duke. 

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