The Wisconsin Badgers kicked off the offseason with a key addition, as they landed Australian guard Owen Foxwell over the weekend, securing a potential replacement for Nick Boyd at point guard.
Foxwell, a 22-year-old guard, comes to Wisconsin after several years of professional experience, including in the NBL, where he averaged 11.1 points and 4.5 assists last season. Seen as a defense-first guard, Foxwell has experience guarding former college and professional guards, which should translate well to the Big
Ten.
He’s also rapidly improved as a shooter, hitting over 35 percent of his threes last season, and has playmaking ability as both an on and off-the-ball guard.
The Badgers did get some unfortunate news on Monday, though, as star John Blackwell announced he’s entering the transfer portal after three years. That leaves another hole to fill in the backcourt, and a big one considering the Badgers had one of the best backcourts in the country last year.
Well, they do have a big connection to a transfer guard who shone as a freshman, earning first-team All-WCC honors: Joel Foxwell, Owen Foxwell’s brother.
The younger Foxwell, who is 20 years old, averaged 15.6 points, 6.5 assists, and 4.3 rebounds for the Portland Pilots this season as a freshman. He was 11th in the NCAA in assists this season, while also adding 1.5 steals per game for Portland.
While the efficiency wasn’t great (39.3 percent from the field, 31.9 percent from three), Foxwell had a very high-usage role for Portland and had several standout games against top competition.
That included a 21-point, 8-assist performance against Oregon early in the season. Foxwell also had 20 points and 15 assists against Santa Clara, 27 points and five assists against Saint Mary’s, 35 points and eight assists against Pepperdine, and 12 points and four steals against Gonzaga.
Could Foxwell join his brother in the backcourt at Wisconsin? There is another link there with Austin Rapp, who previously played with Portland, and has the international connection to both brothers.
If the younger Foxwell does commit to the Badgers, Wisconsin would have a smaller backcourt, as both brothers are under 6’3”. But both are defensive-minded, can playmake and shoot, and provide experience at guard for the Badgers.
We’ll see how the cards fall when the transfer portal opens on Tuesday, but there is a big connection to Foxwell, who is looking to transfer up.
