Wisconsin Forward Austin Rapp Breaks Out in 92-82 Win Over Ohio State
MADISON, Wis. — Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler had a goal for his team heading into Saturday’s clash with Wisconsin. Seeing UW forward Austin Rapp in a shooting spell since the start of Big Ten Conference play, Diebler didn’t want the Buckeyes to serve as the slump buster for Rapp, arguably the best pure shooter for the Badgers.
“When you write scouting, and you see a player who’s not shooting at the level they’re capable of over a certain stretch, my mentality is ‘don’t be the game where they get it going,'” Diebler explained.
“He got it going.”
Despite a 92-82 win over Ohio State on Saturday, Wisconsin got off to a rather slow start. The Badgers fell behind 15-4 early and made just one of their first nine attempts from the field.
Then Rapp exploded.
Scoring 19 points, all in the first half, Rapp went 5-of-6 from 3-point range in a span of just 7:13.
“I’ve been going through a little slump lately, but I still trust my shot and so do my teammates,” Rapp explained. “My teammates are finding me and encouraging me to shoot it. In the second half, I turned one down, and Nick got on me.”
Adjusting to life in the Big Ten Conference, Rapp, the reigning West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year out of Portland, has had his share of adversity. A 35 percent 3-point shooter last season, Rapp’s numbers from beyond the arc have dipped to 28 percent at Wisconsin. Rapp’s rebounding average also dropped from 5.9 to 2.7 boards per game. Also battling a hamstring injury that cost him three games in January, Rapp, admittedly, said the confidence in his shot waned when other parts of his game weren’t able to catch up to speed, leading to some erradic shooting efforts.
Against Ohio State, Rapp not only made five of UW’s nine 3-pointers on the day, but also grabbed six rebounds in 20 minutes. In Wednesday’s come-from-behind win over Minnesota, Rapp was seen scrapping and finishing around the rim at a higher level, which likely sparked Saturday’s performance.
“He’s had his ups and downs,” said senior guard Nick Boyd, who scored 21 points and two assists while going a perfect 8-of-8 from the foul line. “I feel like we tend to forget he was a freshman last year. He jumped right into the Big Ten. That comes with a lot of difficulties and challenges, and he’s been able to navigate through that.
“So, that’s been more impressive than anything he’s done on the court.”
While Rapp went scoreless in the second half, his outside shooting opened up the floor for Boyd and junior guard John Blackwell, who scored a game-high 22 points. The duo scored 22 points in the second half while getting to the free-throw line a combined 11 times.
Rapp has now scored in double figures in eight games this season. When he does, the Badgers are averaging 92.9 points per game, with the lowest being 85 points.
“It puts pressure on a defense in terms of when we’re able to stretch the floor with our bigs,” UW head coach Greg Gard stated. “In the second half our guards are (attacking), because the floor gets stretched and opened up. When you have that threat of big shooting threes, it opens up driving lines more and spreads people out.
“It’s a counter punch, so to speak.”
Not that he didn’t enjoy the scoring outburst, but Gard was more encouraged by Rapp’s performance in other areas.
“Everyone will be excited about his 5-for-7 from ‘3’, but as I told him after the game, I’m more excited about the improvement I saw in other facets of the game — playing physical, rebounding, coming over and chesting up on dribble penetration, putting his face in a battle for a rebound. Things he wasn’t as accustomed to doing 60 days ago.
“If you can make shots on top of that, that’ll elevate your game.”
