Wisconsin men’s basketball head coach Greg Gard announced that freshman center Gus Yalden will take a temporary leave of absence from the team to deal with a “personal family issue.”
Yalden, ranked the 17th best center in the nation according to 247 Sports, will leave the team for an unspecified amount of time but will still stay enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and receive student-athlete resources. However, he will not participate in team-related activities at this time.
“We are in full support of Gus and will always be here for him and his family,” Gard said. “Gus is part of the Wisconsin basketball family, and even though he won’t be on the court with us right now, we’ll always do everything we can to help him,” he added.
A first-year player out of Appleton, Wis., Yalden was slated to provide backup play to projected starter Steven Crowl. He joins the Badgers this season as a part of an incoming freshman class that includes Nolan Winter and John Blackwell, as well as St. John’s transfer A.J. Storr.
The Badgers’ first appearance of the 2023-24 season is Nov. 1 at 7 p.m., when they will host the UW-Stevens Point Pointers at the Kohl Center. They open the regular season on Nov. 6 at home against Arkansas State. Coach Gard said the Badgers look forward to Yalden’s return, but there is no known time table for his return to the team.
