NEW YORK—Playing just blocks away from Broadway and New York City’s theatre district, sophomore forward Ethan Happ put forward his audition tape for Big Ten Player of the Year Saturday afternoon in Wisconsin’s 61-54 overtime victory over Rutgers.
Not only was Happ Wisconsin’s high scorer, finishing the game with a career-best 32 points, but the sophomore was one of UW’s best distributors as well. Happ additionally added six rebounds, four steals and two blocks and even occasionally played the role of team director, as he instructed teammates to cut or set screens while he possessed the ball at the top of the key.
As head coach Greg Gred admitted after the game, Saturday’s victory was certainly not Wisconsin’s best performance, but when the Badgers (7-1 Big Ten, 18-3 overall) needed to make a play, Happ delivered. As a result, Wisconsin exited the floor Saturday afternoon to the pro-Badger crowd cheering for Happ’s show stopping performance.
It didn’t take long for Happ to make his presence known. He scored 10 of UW’s first 13 points, with the remaining three points coming from Jordan Hill, but only after Happ found the junior guard open behind the arc.
In the first half, Happ received almost no help on the offensive end of the floor. Wisconsin’s offense shot a mere 5-of-25 in the game’s first twenty minutes and had only one additional field goal after Happ finished a layup with 11:53 to play in the half.
It was no surprise that the Scarlet Nights (1-8, 12-10) led by five heading into the locker room. But as UW opened the second half, Wisconsin’s first half problems remained.
UW missed its first three 3-point attempts of the second half. But still trailing by five with 17 minutes left, and shooting 1-of-16 from deep, Wisconsin again turned to Happ. That seemed to be UW’s only consistent act.
“We just do what Wisconsin does, get it in the post,” senior guard Bronson Koenig said. “And Ethan’s a great player so credit him for making the right reads, making the right plays, either kicking it out or scoring or getting to the free throw line.”
Trailing by nine with 3:22 to play in regulation, Wisconsin went right back to Happ. He scored six points and had one assist on UW’s 13-4 run to close regulation. With seven seconds to play, down two points, it was Happ who took center stage.
With Koenig covered on a potential handoff, the sophomore forward recognized the need to make a play. Using just two dribbles and two seconds later, Happ worked himself right under the rim. He pump faked his initial layup attempt, causing his defender C.J. Gettys to leave his feet, before Happ finished his actual shot with two seconds remaining.
Rutgers chucked up a hail mary, but could not channel its inner Aaron Rodgers, sending the game to overtime.
On the opening possession of the extra frame, it was senior forward Nigel Hayes who gave UW its first lead since the 11:52 mark of the second half. But from there it was Happ who again regained UW’s lead role.
“I thought we did a great job on Hayes today. I thought we did a really good job on Bronson,” Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said. “But you know, Happ is tough down there. We tried to wall him up a little bit. We tried to dig down a few times, but he just gets great low post position and he’s relentless.”
Without Happ’s field goal attempts figured in, the Badgers finished a putrid 8-of-42 from the field. Even worse was UW’s three-point shooting percentage, as Wisconsin made only three of its 25 shots from beyond the arc.
Days after scoring 16 points in UW’s 82-55 victory over Penn State, senior forward Vitto Brown finished 0-of-8 from the field. Hayes shot a mere 2-for-7. And Koenig, was an even worse 2-for-13.
“Nobody could really throw it in the ocean today for most of the game,” Koenig said. “But I just told our guys, keep battling, keep fighting, keep trying to stay positive, because you know it seemed like nothing was going our way and then like coach said, right in the nick of time, a couple shots went in for us.”
But Wisconsin’s late flurry was no fluke. While Koenig knocked down a triple with 32 seconds left in regulation to cut Rutgers’ lead to one, when the Badgers needed a hoop most, it was Happ who shined.
It was fitting then, that after all the other Badgers had retreated into the locker room, Happ was the last Badger to leave the Garden floor. As he ran off the court, he waved his arms at the Wisconsin fanbase and saluted the crowd.
It was his curtain call.
“That was something special,” Happ said. “And I just savored the moment.”
