The Wisconsin Badgers had a tough 86-69 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Tuesday, falling to 18-8 on the season after the disappointing night.
While the Badgers were non-competitive for most of the night, there were some bright spots, with freshman guard Hayden Jones being among them. Jones played just one minute in the first half, as Wisconsin played its starters heavy minutes and relied primarily on Braeden Carrington and Jack Janick off the bench with Austin Rapp out.
However, Janicki suffered a wrist injury, prompting Wisconsin’s short rotation to get even shorter, which led to some huge minutes for Jones as the Badgers looked to go smaller to match up with Ohio State. Jones ended up playing 15 minutes in the second half, scoring six points on 3 of 4 shooting while hauling in four rebounds (three offensive) and dishing out an assist without turning the ball over.
There were some early moments where Jones looked sped up, but he played very well down the stretch and had some huge minutes for the Badgers. Prior to Tuesday, Jones hadn’t seen double-digit minutes since Wisconsin’s last non-conference game back in December. So it was good to see the freshman rise to the occasion when his number was called.
What did head coach Greg Gard think of the performance?
“When Jack went down, obviously we had to go, when we’re down Aussie [Austin Rapp] already, have to go to another guy,” Gard said, via 247Sports’s Nick Osen. “And I wanted to play a little, I thought smaller was better for us.
“Thought we had to play a little faster. So Hayden, you know, shuttling in there, I thought did some good things, you know, for being thrown in the mix. And, minimal preparation because he spends a lot of time on the scout team. But he rebounded well. You know, I’m sure he would love those free throws back. But, you know, he did some good things for being thrown in that mix on short notice.”
Wisconsin will likely look to shorten its rotation to eight when March comes around, with Braeden Carrington, Jack Janicki, and Austin Rapp being the top players off the bench. But it’s a good sign that they have additional depth that can step in and play well in spot minutes if needed with Jones.