Wisconsin Basketball: Nate Reuvers Next to Accept the Badger Big Man Torch?

The high-scoring big man has been a staple of the Wisconsin basketball offenses in recent years. After watching Tuesday night’s season opener, it looks like the torch for that position has officially been passed.

When long-time center Ethan Happ graduated after last season, Wisconsin basketball didn’t just lose their leading scorer from the previous two years. They lost the latest in a long line of big men who have impressed as starters this decade. Happ joined the likes of Frank Kaminsky, Jared Berggren, and Jon Leuer in Badger big man lore.

So then going into this season, the question was not only who would replace Happ’s 17.3 points per game from the ’18-’19 regular season. But would there be a successor to Happ as the Badgers’ focal big man?

If the first game of the ’19-’20 season was any indication, that successor is Nate Reuvers.

After a bit of a slow start in Tuesday’s game against St. Mary’s, Reuvers turned it on in the second half and ended up leading the team with 22 points, which tied a career high, on 8 of 18 shooting including 1 of 4 from three and 5 of 7 at the line. His six rebounds and four blocks led the Badgers as well.

Reuvers is used to making an impact on the defensive end. Last season, he placed fifth in the Big Ten with 1.8 blocks per game even while only logging just 22.9 minutes per game. What remained to be seen was how much his offensive numbers would rise this year as the top post option on the team. So far, so good.

Now don’t just think of Reuvers as a straight Happ replacement. While Happ was a great player in Badger history, making a number of All-Big Ten teams and also being named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2016, he was extremely one-dimensional in scoring pretty much all of his non-free throws at the rim.

Reuvers, on the other hand, is a more well-rounded player. Just over one-third of his career shots have come from behind the three-point line, where he is a career 33.3% shooter. And on top of working down low, Reuvers is not afraid to take mid-range shots when necessary. Think less Happ and more Kaminsky or Leuer.

Reuvers’ skillset should also allow the Wisconsin offense to resemble the swing offense of years past. With Happ as the focal point, many games would become a series of the Badgers working the ball back and forth to Happ in the post. Reuvers in that position should allow the offense to run more freely.

After two years of an offense basically centered around one player, it may take the team a few games to fully adjust to one that is more balanced. But the solid Badger teams from earlier this decade had the type of offense where scoring was much more likely to come from multiple sources. Tuesday’s game looked like a step in that direction.

One game is just a bit too small of a sample size to officially place Reuvers into the same class as the other Badger big men of the decade. If he comes anywhere close to replicating the success of this season’s first game, though, he could be well on his way.