With final exams upon them. The Wisconsin Badgers on Thursday night were able to take care of their business, starting a four game homestand with a 75 to 60 win against Jacksonville State. Just one more non-conference game remains that■s
Against Chicago State on Friday night, and it’s back to Big Ten basketball. The rest of the regular season. We■ll check out some of the highlights from Thursday night’s game. We’ll check in with assistant to the head coach Kirk Penney, Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Famer,
back on the staff here in Madison. All of that as well as our weekly chat with head coach Greg Gard on this week’s edition of the Badger Sports Report. Chucky Bobs off a Nolan Winter screen gives to Storr steps back
Long two straight away front rim no goes back to Storr He■ll glide to the goal again Lay up good it counts and a foul. Kills the dribble kicks to Winter. Hepburn Loops it to Wahl eight to shoot Tyler draws the double
Now on the attack reverse layup Good going right to left. saw the double coming made his move Gilmore a flip for Klesmit High on the right shot clock at ten. Max for three up top, good!
first points tonight for Max Klesmit 49 – 39 Wisconsin. Storr with a bounce for Wahl Tyler right lane inside feed to Blackwell cutting to the goal lay up too good for John Blackwell 14 point lead Wisconsin.
Here’s Connor Essegian inside feet caught by Crowl slam dunk Crowl from Essegian Nicely done MUSIC We got to show up every night. And that was something that we really pushed in the pregame speech. If we want to be great, we got to show up every night
and to a great And so we did that. I think for the most part we still could have been better. But I’m pretty happy with how we played, you know, touching the post, obviously seeing and T and Steve had a good scoring night.
So that just draws attention or no and back cut some swing threes. So just playing off of them really. Connor didn’t play the first 19 minutes and then you know got subbed out while he’s going through what he’s going through.
How do you guys continue to help him and what does he need to kind of show you to be more playing time? Well, holding him accountable is the best thing the coaches can do and continue to demand that you have to guard.
And he’s he’s in a funk right now. He’s I think he’s better than where he was two, three weeks ago. He understands it. He’s been very coachable, but he’s got to continue to be more physical defensively. You got to be there for him,
But sometimes you just kind of got to let him go or in practice, if he’s figuring it out, you got to learn to figure it out. But if you see something not only me, but a lot of the other guys
on the team, they’re not afraid to speak up and give their $0.02 and it’s not a bad thing. I think it’s just a good thing for us, for our team and the chemistry that we have or were able to communicate
really well and just talk it out. And so I would say a little bit of both. Giving him words of encouragement is huge, especially right now. But he’ll get it going. He’ll get going. This is Wisconsin basketball and Wahl with the steal Tyler
with the pilfer down the lane slam dunk! three on one flips to Storr down the lane and he hammers it with the right hand with 2 Hepburn GOOD! off the glass. Slips it into Crowl on the left slam dunk
Another three point here for Connor Essegian. the Badger Sports report is presented by UW Health UW Health Sports Medicine treating the Badgers treating you and is brought to you by the construction business group Wisconsin Operating Engineers and Respected Contractors
Building Wisconsin together dot com and by Gruber Law Office is a proud partner of Wisconsin athletics. One call that’s all. After a serious accident, you’ll need a team to fight for the results you deserve. We’re here for you whenever you need us.
Gruber Law offices. Proud partner of Wisconsin Athletics. One call. That’s all. I’ve always been a storyteller. I capture those beautiful moments, things other people miss. My health took an unexpected turn, but my care team put my needs in focus,
designing solutions to support my ambitions. Now, that’s just a footnote in my journey. A small part of a story that’s still being written. UW Health Remarkable bananas are only $0.39 a pound at Hy-Vee. That’s not a sale price.
That’s the price with the Hy-Vee perks membership and $0.39 a pound. It’s not just a price today or this week, it’s the purchase price every day with the Hy-Vee perks membership, you can save on hundreds of products storewide every time you shop
and count on perks, prices just stay the same. So if you want to pay less for bananas every day, sign up for Hy-Vee Perks. It’s free and easy. These are operating engineers. They operate top of the line, innovative machines and build stuff that matters.
And operating engineers are well paid. They even get paid to train As an apprentice. You can make $56,000 a year from day one during training, no school loans and no debt. When your training is complete, you’ll have a stable career job
that is high skill, high tech and high pay. We need operating engineers. Right now. Your future can begin today. After a serious accident. You’ll need a team to fight for the results you deserve. We’re here for you whenever you need us.
Gruber Law Office’s proud partner of Wisconsin Athletics. One call. That’s all the topic that comes up probably about every year at this time. As you get near the end of the semester. The games are few and far between.
The rest of the month before conference play gets going for good in early January. But it’s still it’s a it’s an important topic and it’s the topic of workload for the NBA. It’s called by some grudgingly accepted by others
As load management, an 82 game schedule for the college game. Fewer games, but a lot of practices and a play school here that last year versus Wisconsin so so we bring in coach guard that is the workload thing is it is a thing it’s changed a lot
maybe over the last 15 or 20 years but getting time away and yet still getting good work in especially this time of year, that’s all really important. It is because as you mentioned, we have for, you know,
at the cusp of final starting here at the end of a hear soon. But, you know, the the analytics, the science behind it, the technology behind the rest and the workloads and those things. And you mentioned load management.
It’s that’s a word that’s gotten beat up a little bit. A little bit. It’s also is a bad term. Yeah, Yeah, it is. But I think you do have to be cognizant of it. I think we’re way more advanced
in terms of what we know ahead of time to try to as especially this stretch we just came out of to cognizant of things going through that stretch as we dial back in different days, but also going forward knowing they have a huge
Academic commitments coming here with a lot of things wrapping up with the semester and still at the same time you got to maintain your sharpness because we have games coming here the next couple of weeks, you bowl is talked about,
it has legs and lungs in the midst of studying for final exams, taking final exams, but it really is for college. It is a practice thing, right? We’re maybe traditionally toward the end of the season, practice time is reduced, but that can happen
even earlier in the season. It can, you know, and I think the the the schedule of finals has changed so much. You know, in the last it really since COVID really more of a more and more classes are online, more finals are online,
more things happen earlier. So I think the whole legs and lungs of having that much time off is probably a completely different mindset than what it was, you know, five years ago even. But yeah, having
Having a chance to sharpen up, we got to practice too. We have to we, there’s a lot of things we have to get better at, even though we’ve we’ve played some good basketball here, there’s a lot of things we’ve learned in both,
you know, in the victories and in the ones where we’ve taken it all on the head a little bit. There are a lot of things that we can continue to get better at and we’ll sharpen up during this time. And part of the benefit
of the schedule that you have played here is that you really do get a much truer sense of where the flaws might be and where the strengths are is. Yeah, and I think are some of our flaws
that maybe we had a month ago or are not there anymore. And but obviously when you play the schedule that we played, I don’t know if anybody’s done that in terms of specifically playing true road games, You know, you sprinkle
in a conference opener in between it. So it’s just it’s helped us, you know, it’s been it has been a gantlet to go through, but it’s been fun. I think it’s you know, we’ve seen where we stack up
and I think we’re we’re a good team that has a chance to get really, really good as we go forward. I mentioned, though, the work a lot of practices in and around finals, but even in the course of the season,
you know, the final schedule is much different. The game schedule is much different, long gone now, I guess, or the days of either, you know, really long on Thursday, Saturday or Wednesday, Saturday, like every night of the week is in play.
Does that add to the challenge of just making sure guys get a little bit of downtime? It is. You know, we’re going to have a big gap there between Chicago State and then when we go back in the Big Ten, play
with Iowa longer than we probably would have liked, but we were supposed to have another league game in there between Christmas and New Year’s. But the schedules of other schools didn’t work to fit in with their other non-conference games.
So a way bigger gap than we would have liked or would have traditionally like to play in. So we’re going to have to be creative of determining creating game atmosphere because of, you know, such a long layoff.
How much do you rely on someone like Jim Snyder, your strength coach, and then obviously your assistant coaches as well, But you a size probably have a lot of coverage. Pretty pretty heavily. Yeah. I mean, it specifically when we’re going through
what we just came through, he’ll constantly talk to me about what I plan for the day, what I think we need to do and and then he’ll share his information, you know, the analytics and in the technology
That we have in play right now, he can really show me who’s had an integrated test tells you pretty accurately. You know, you can look at a stat sheet sheet and see somebody played 35 minutes. That’s a pretty heavy workload.
But also the science to back it up and how they’ve responded, how the recovery rate is and all the things that you can. We can rate sleep. We can do just about everything. Right now it’s almost scary what technology can tell you.
And then the players themselves, the guys who’ve been around the block, there’s a trust level there. There is, Yeah. Especially with older guys, all that have been through it and they know what they’ve been through and they know what’s coming.
I think that’s the other important thing too, that they know what a full season feels like and I’ll lean on those older guys too. The Chucky■s, the Tyler Wahls, the Steve Crowls, that, hey, what do you how you feel and what do you think?
Where we at? And they’re really I let them make sure they’re really honest with me here. I’m a tour player and not just in years here, but just they they are grown up and they can give honest answers to honest questions. Stay with us.
We have more to come as we continue with this week’s edition of the Badger Sports Report. We believe in education. We believe in public schools. We believe in financial security for Wisconsin public school employees and their families. WEA Member Benefits.
The proud partner of Wisconsin athletics, WEAA Benefits Outcome. My favorite breakfast is Odysset yogurt. I asked Mommy where it comes from, and she took me to a dairy farm to learn all about milk and most importantly, cows. Wisconsin cows are definitely the happiest,
which means they make the tastiest yogurt. My favorite is blueberry. What■s your flavor? Support your local farmers. E – I, E – I Odyssey. I had big dreams. Then I got sick. UW Health made it their mission
to give me a fresh start and a new kidney. Now my dreams are infinite. UW Health. Remarkable. It’s always good to welcome back a guy who started here at the University of Wisconsin. That’s a good news.
The bad news is it just makes me feel older because I’m talking to him as someone on the coaching staff now, UW Athletics Hall of Famer from Badger Standout. Obviously Kirk Penney joins us first. Very belated walking back and we’ve talked many times obviously
the most basic of questions what what drew you back I mean you’ve been doing a lot of things living everywhere. What drew you back here to to the University of Wisconsin? Well, we got locked down in New Zealand for a significant amount of time.
And my wife’s from Wisconsin and we were already planning to, you know, to spend some time here or kind of right before I visited with coach guard and we spoke about things or kind of during that time or were a little bit fluid,
But we hadn’t spent any time in Wisconsin in four years and the grandparents don’t really know. The kids know the kids and the 99 call him the running mate and the cousins had it made him so it seemed like
it was a good time to to spend together and it was all quite organic, though probably not all, you know, completely plain, but but now we’ve been back here and being back involved with the team. It’s been unexpected.
But sometimes your steps are directed and it’s right. It’s been good, but you’ve obviously been on this side before with your time at Virginia. Did you think as you were as your playing career was continuing, did you think at some point
When the playing days are done that you would like to get into the coaching side of it? Yeah, I mean, I enjoy business a lot and that’s what I’ve been doing the last three years in New Zealand and I enjoy coaching a lot and
you know, in life, different years, different turns and, and that’s kind of how it is. I think when I was coaching and consulting with Virginia over 2018-19, 19-20, it was a whole lot of fun to be reconnected with Tony. And now
This is proving to be, you know, the same the same thing, except it’s at my school. It’s at the school I have so much pride in and have been so much and have such cherished memories that and and it’s been really, really neat.
And I think it’s not only neat for me, it’s neat for my family. You know, Audra played volleyball here. My father in law went to school here and played baseball. Um, you know, the Aunties and uncles all went here.
So, you know, when they all come to the Marquette game here and the whole family is here, my two girls are here, not my boys, but it was special and it was unique and it was, it was really, really cool for us.
Your time as a badger, your fans remember great moments, winning championship trophy, Final Four, Beyond all of that obvious stuff, what are the memories that you take with you that every day when you maybe you walk on the floor, you think about
whatever it is you’re thinking about your time as a player at the University of Wisconsin? Look, I think it was it was such a good foundation for me to have a professional career, both as a sportsman and as a businessman.
And in life, like, it really set me up. Well, I think, first of all, I was very fortunate to have very good coaching. I think Dick Bennett, Tony Bennett and and the assistants here were fantastic for two years.
And then, you know, I had Coach Gard and Ryan and that staff come in and really teach us and grow us and coach us up and that’s lucky if you don’t know who you’re going to get sometimes
and you don’t know who’s going to come in. And even when Coach Gard, Coach Ryan came as our what’s going on here, we joke about I think he was joking. I was from Tennessee, but but it was just
I was just really fortunate to have great teachers and and I think it was, you know, great for me. And I could take it on to my professional career. I know Coach Gard talked about it
When you the title as assistant to the to the head coach and just the ideas you playing obviously in New Zealand, being a part of two Olympic teams, all of all of the growth of your own game. But how the game has grown too.
Can you describe for us in layman’s terms, maybe how the game has changed from even your playing days not that long ago, how it’s changed from then to what we see now? I mean, it was fascinating as a player.
So four years of college and 15 years professionally, there’s 19 years where you’re playing at a high level from 99 through 2018 and it was incredible how the game shifted over that time as a player. Incredible even for me.
You know, I came in here as a start up shooter shooting off the move, turnouts, then I had to grow in to be able to post up a little bit. But what probably didn’t develop as much as my own ball game, you know, using ball screens
Like a point guard used to do. Now all guards need to do it. So as over the course of my career, I really had to improve and become dynamic at all balls shooting out of them, creating four players out of them,
and not because I was the point guard, but because every guard had to have that. And then obviously shooting has become more and more prevalent. I think that’s why it played so long, because every team needs a shooter. You know,
I mean, it was one year. I remember Scott Roth was coaching this badger and Sevilla, Spain and I was getting calls from him late really late in my career. And he said, look, I’d love you to come. I’d love you to come.
I’ve got a kid named Porzingis on my team and Willie Hernandez-Gomez to be on my team. And I just need a guy who can sit in the corner and be respected. I opened it up and I ended up taking the job.
The day I arrived, Scott Roth got released. Casimiro came in a Spanish coach, but the rest of the year our team had the best record in Spain outside of Barcelona and we were the the bottom of the league when I got there.
So I think there’s always a place, always been a place for shooting, but that’s only become, you know, far more important in today’s game. Do we talk about the evolution of your game? I know you’ve been with this team as we speak.
It’s still a relatively short time, but it seems like a guy like Chucky is evolving. Chucky Hepburn. There’s more to his game. Max Klesmit. What have you seen from from those guys, I guess the guards specifically from
When you first laid eyes on them to where they are now? I mean, we’re on a journey this year where it was great to just play number one Arizona and kind of measure ourselves. And it wasn’t great probably that we didn’t put our best foot forward.
I think we had a really difficult weekend to finish it with. That game was was fatiguing and tough. And, you know, we want to be continuing to improve and and it was just a great measuring stick.
But I think for me, coming in as a coach, I can still probably see the trees from the forest a little bit and and I don’t have the last years, for better or worse sort of opinion. I just can can evaluate as they are.
And I think they’re growing. They’re improving. You know, Chucky, I don’t know. You know, in the past I’m being told the series leader he’s quicker he’s he’s more dynamic. And what I see is a really, really good ball player
And and continuing to make the right decision at the right time next as well obviously had that market first half which changed the game for us you know changed the game and gave us so much confidence. But it’s a journey and it’s up and down
and the players are young. And I think the one thing you learn as a pro and what you these guys will endeavor to be and what we’d love to see from us is consistency, the power of the word and being consistent every single time.
And it’s really hard when you’re 19, really hard because your shot’s not developed. It can’t be. You’re on the swing of the game. Can’t be. But every single day we’re in here, you know, the shooting is getting better. Free throws are improving
pretty good now. And in just understanding of the game, especially as we shift our systems, we’re shifting, you know, we’re not just running swing on every single time. Now it’s like I mean, we’re we’ve got a lot of cool stuff in here
And a lot of progressive stuff. And it’s it’s just learning how to run it. So by March, you’ve got a real good feel for it. We’ll hear more of our conversation with Kirk Penney in a couple of weeks. After a serious accident,
you’ll need a team to fight for the results you deserve. We’re here for you whenever you need us. Gruber Law Offices. Proud partner of Wisconsin Athletics. One call, that’s all. Bananas are only $0.39 a pound at Hy-Vee. That’s not a sale price.
That’s the price with the Hy-Vee perks membership and $0.39 a pound is not just a price today or this week, it’s the purchase price every day with the Hy-Vee perks membership, you can save on hundreds of products storewide every time you shop
and count on perks, prices just stay the same. So if you want to pay less for bananas every day, sign up for Hy-Vee Perks. It’s free and easy. WEA member Benefits Dedicated to helping Wisconsin public school employees become financially secure
with programs designed for the education community. Proud partner of Wisconsin Athletics WEA Benefits dot com. MUSIC Ready, Set. Go. Madison. Milwaukee. Oregon. Verona. Stoughton. Mount Horeb. Waunakee, Platteville, Dodgeville. Wausau. Green Bay. Eagle River. Minocqua. Cobb.
Shout out Coach Shawano. OK Brookfield. Pewaukee. Hartland. Delafield, Nashotah, Chenequa. Oconomowoc. Wauwatosa Milwaukee. Sheboygan. Madison. Green Bay. Ashwaubenon Mineral Point. Madison Cobb. Platteville. Cuba City. Darlington, Hazel Green. Milwaukee. Green Bay. Neenah Hartland. Stevens Point.
Eau Claire La Crosse. Oshkosh. Hartland. Merton, Lake Country. Kenosha Beaver Dam. Milwaukee, Oregon. Neenah Mineral Point. Dodgeville. Platteville. Oconomowoc. Waukesha. Brookfield. Wauwatosa Verona. Madison. Neenah. Highland. Hartland. Hartland. Green Bay. Milwaukee. Oshkosh. La Crosse. Um, I’m on Menomonie.
Oregon. MUSIC I had big dreams. Then I got sick. UW Health made it their mission to give me a fresh start and a new kidney. Now my dreams are infinite. UW Health. Remarkable. These are operating engineers. They operate top of the line,
innovative machines and build stuff that matters. And operating engineers are well paid. They even get paid to train. As an apprentice. You can make $56,000 a year from day one during training, no school loans and no debt.
When your training is complete, you’ll have a stable career job that is high skill, high tech and high pay. We need operating engineers right now. Your future can begin today. After a serious accident, you’ll need a team to fight for the results you deserve.
We’re here for you whenever you need us. Gruber Law offices. Proud partner of Wisconsin athletics. One call. That’s all. The Badger Sports Report is presented by UW Health, UW Health, Sports Medicine, treating the Badgers, treating you,
and is brought to you by the construction business group Wisconsin Operating Engineers and Respected Contractors Building Wisconsin Together dot com and by Gruber Law Offices, a proud partner of Wisconsin athletics. One call, that’s all just one game for the Badgers this week
as the homestand continues. A Friday night matchup against Chicago State, a team that last week beat Northwestern in Evanston. So I don’t think the Badgers will be looking past a tough time at the Kohl Center set for 7:00 Central Time.
We’ll talk to you next week. Thanks for watching. This has been a presentation from Learfield. I’ve always been a storyteller. I capture those beautiful moments, things other people miss. My health took an unexpected turn,
but my care team put my needs in focus, designing solutions to support my ambitions. Now that’s just a footnote in my journey. A small part of a story that’s still being written. UW Health Remarkable. We believe in education.
We believe in public schools at WPA member benefits. We believe in helping Wisconsin public school employees and their families achieve their financial goals by providing personal insurance, retirement investment and financial planning programs that are designed specifically for the education community.
Proud Partner of Wisconsin Athletics WEA benefits dot com. My favorite breakfast is Odyssey. yogurt. I asked Mommy where it comes from, and she took me to a dairy farm to learn all about milk and most importantly, cows. Wisconsin cows are definitely the happiest,
which means they make the tastiest yogurt. My favorite is blueberry. What■s your flavor? Support your local farmers E-I, E-I Odyssey.
