Wisconsin Basketball: Conference Play Kind to Kobe King

Big Ten conference play is an experience that is not for the faint of heart. Luckily, one of Wisconsin Basketball’s young guards has shown that he is more than up for the challenge.

Conference play in the Big Ten conference is notoriously tough each year and this year is no exception. Every night is a dogfight whether you’re playing the first place or last place team and it takes every player’s best effort to try and scratch out a win, as we’ve seen from the Wisconsin Basketball program this season.

A couple of players have specifically stood out so far this season. Redshirt junior forward Micah Potter has provided a huge boost in the team’s return to conference play since finally being allowed to play. Fellow junior forward Nate Reuvers has been a leader all year and paces the team in scoring and blocks.

But one player has come on strong lately, specifically in Big Ten conference games. Redshirt sophomore guard Kobe King has burst on to the scene and even finds himself toward the top of a couple statistical leaderboards through the beginning of Big Ten play.

Kicking it up a notch

It took some time for King to find his groove. During the first seven games this year, all non-conference affairs, he averaged 10.4 points per game on 40.4% overall shooting from the floor and 28.6% shooting from three. Not mind-blowing, but the scoring average was still a bump from his 4.2 ppg average the previous year.

Wisconsin’s first Big Ten conference game, at home against a previously undefeated Indiana, was the coming out party for King. He would score a career-high 24 points on 10 of 15 shooting and also add four rebounds and an assist.

King has scored in double figures in every Big Ten game since then, giving him a team-leading 17.2 points per game in five Big Ten games. Going into Monday, that average places him seventh in the league in scoring during conference games. Even more impressively, King has seen his field goal percentage jump way up to 65.5% in Big Ten games, the second best mark in the league.

Scoring inside and outside

The Badgers traditionally seem to have players that can either score at the basket or from three-point range, but don’t often have ones that are particularly proficient from mid-range. King, so far, has shown that he can break that mold.

King has definitely favored the two-pointer to the three even more during conference play, taking 90.6% of his shots from inside the arc during those five games, compared to 80.7% in non-conference matchups. And of the 35 twos that he’s made in Big Ten contests, 17 have come from within five feet while 18 have come from between there and the three-point line.

King’s surge has come at the perfect time for the Badgers. Their 3-2 record against Big Ten opponents ties them for third in the conference as of Monday. Two of those three wins have come on the road, an extremely difficult thing to do this year which is why Wisconsin is the only team with two such wins.

The Badgers have two more games in this current gauntlet – at home against #17 Maryland and on the road against #15 Michigan State – before the schedule finally eases up a bit. It’s a perfect time to stockpile wins that will go a long way towards earning an NCAA tournament berth. If King continues his strong conference play, there’s a good chance the Badgers can make that happen.