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Wisconsin basketball (22-6, 12-5 Big Ten) received a timely contribution from an unlikely playmaker in its 26-point win over Washington on Tuesday.
In 15 minutes of play, UW bench forward Xavier Amos scored a season-best 12 points off 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from outside. He captained a bench unit responsible for 33 of those 88 points, most of which came in the second half of play.
Amos did most of his damage in that second frame through made shots from long-range and open looks in transition against a weak defensive team. At 6-foot-7, he took full advantage of a favorable matchup. The former Northern Illinois forward had just one other double-digit scoring outing this season: 10 points vs. Appalachian State on Nov. 10.
After the game, head coach Greg Gard offered some perspective on if he believed the game slowed down for Amos on Tuesday.
“I thought it did tonight. I thought it did,” Gard said. “Sometimes the game doesn’t allow you the patience to let him play through some things. Usually when he gets in and gets a good sweat going and can knock down a shot or two, then he gets rolling a little bit. I thought he was much more aggressive in the spurts. When Washington went to the 1-3-1 zone in the first half and he was in, and he helped move the ball pretty well, then banged three when they went to man after a few passes or when the ball gets below the foul line. I just thought he was in a much more aggressive mindset. He’s still got to learn to continually play off two feet. He didn’t have a lot of those tonight, in terms of driving lane lines and playing off two feet. I thought he was physical, I thought that he was active. He ran the floor really well, got a bucket in the second half in transition. The more he can play, the better he gets. And I thought Jack [Janicki] was another one that just kept getting better and better each possession.”
Barring any injury to Wisconsin’s frontcourt leaders, Amos likely won’t see an increase in minutes against teams…
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Author : Badgers Wire
Publish date : 2025-02-27 11:15:00
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