Connor Essegian has turned heads for Wisconsin Basketball

Going into the season, many did not know what to expect from the Wisconsin basketball team. Other than the three returning starters of Chucky Hepburn, Tyler Wahl, and Steven Crowl, the rest of the team’s rotation were wild cards.

One of those wild cards was freshman guard Connor Essegian. It was intriguing to see what Essegian’s role on the team would be following a decorated high school career in Indiana, where he scored over two-thousand points. So far, he’s been the team’s most significant bench spark and has made a great first impression.

Connor Essegian has turned heads during his freshman season for Wisconsin Basketball

Badgers fans thought there was one thing the team needed to improve more than anything else going into the season. Perimeter shooting had to be the team’s most significant focus. Essegian, along with Wofford transfer Max Klesmit, has helped sure up the team’s most enormous hole early this season.

Essegian has been tremendous already this season, and he’s only a freshman. He has averaged 10.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game for the season. Along with those stats, he’s shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 44.8 percent from three.

Essegian has been the type of player that the Badgers have been missing for the last few years. They’ve needed a player who can come in and knock down threes consistently off the bench. While they have had players that can get hot from the outside over the last few years, they’ve all been players in the team’s starting lineup.

This season, Essegian has shown the importance of a quality sixth man. In the team’s game against the then-third-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, Essegian officially introduced himself to the college basketball world. In the game, Essegian finished with 17 points, shooting 6-for-12, in 31 minutes off Wisconsin’s bench. While the Badgers went on to lose the game, it was our first glimpse of Essegian’s potential.

Essegian has come up big for the team in other moments, such as a mini-scoring spurt against Marquette or knocking down consecutive threes to give the team momentum against Lehigh.

The swagger with which he plays and the smoothness of his jump shot has some Badgers fans comparing Essegian to Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro. Plenty of people that follow the Wisconsin basketball program will remember that Herro initially committed to play for the Badgers before rethinking his decision and going to play at Kentucky. Essegian has given us an idea of what a player of a similar playstyle to Herro’s would have looked like with the Badgers.

Essegian is the latest example of another brilliant find by Badgers coach Greg Gard and his recruiting staff. For a school that has yet to be historically known for having young players contribute, Gard and his team have been excellent in changing that in the last few seasons.

As long as Essegian can continue to shoot at a high clip as his volume improves during his time at Wisconsin, he has the potential to be remembered as one of the best shooters that Wisconsin basketball has ever had.