The Wisconsin Badgers got a nice 84-71 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday, keeping them firmly in the mix for a top-four seed in the Big Ten.
Nick Boyd was the star of the show, getting 27 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds in a monster performance, and Nolan Winter added 18 points and five rebounds in yet another efficient day for the big. But a big boost off the bench from Austin Rapp was helpful, as the sophomore hit a couple of momentum-swinging threes for the Badgers.
Rapp finished the day
with 14 points on 5 of 7 from the field, including 4 of 5 from three-point range. He played 29 minutes in the game despite missing Tuesday’s contest due to illness. Unfortunately for Rapp, it’s been the same illness that has caused him to miss multiple games over the past few weeks, keeping him in and out of the rotation.
After the game on Sunday, Rapp broke down how the last few weeks were as he’s battled through the sickness.
“It’s obviously been tough,” Rapp said. “Been going through it a little bit, but it’s part of life and pushing through. And these guys have been really good, the medical staff, and making sure I’m doing all the right tests and making myself ease back into practice, not just jumping straight in. And obviously I was a little gassed today, but I actually felt pretty good out there and— to get the win and [get on top] for sure.”
Earlier in the week, head coach Greg Gard confirmed that the illness had been the same one Rapp had been battling for weeks, noting that it even got more serious than it was previously.
“It’s been a nasty thing for him to deal with. So yeah, the medical people, he’s gone through a bunch of different testing and things following it,” Gard said. “I think it’s more serious. Not that what he had wasn’t serious, but now it’s just a matter of recovering back and strength and endurance, those types of things. So I think he’s headed in a good direction, but yeah, it made a nasty return. I think that’s what we’ve learned. It’s going around this time of year.
“Sometimes you get it and then you get back again. It takes a while to run its course. He’s gone through every test under the sun, so just to make sure, like, rule out anything that was more serious than that that we were missing, but we’re not. So it has to run its course. And I think, like I said, the last couple days he’s starting to get better. Better. Looks much better today than what he did yesterday. Just feels better. So now it’s just walking yourself back health-wise to, to be where you were.”
With how this team is constructed and with the recent injury to Jack Janicki, Rapp will be crucial for Wisconsin down the stretch as one of the top two players off the bench. The Badgers already shortened their rotation to eight on Sunday, and freshman Hayden Jones saw just eight minutes of action. But against Illinois and Iowa, Rapp has logged the most minutes since he was a starter back in November.
Now, it’s just about getting back to full strength.
