It was only fitting that while other teammates certainly made huge plays in the final minutes of Saturday’s game against the Indiana Hoosiers, Micah Potter made the biggest ones.
Potter was unable to play Indiana back on December 7 in the Kohl Center. He was still ruled ineligible by the NCAA for reasons which remain unfair and insubstantial. Potter could only watch as Wisconsin split its first 10 games of the season. He wasn’t able to take the court until Dec. 21 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He wasn’t able to play his first Big Ten game until Jan. 3 at Ohio State.
Potter struggled to play defense in January, the main reason UW head coach Greg Gard limited his minutes. His season reflected a slow evolution — progress appeared, but not abundantly. Potter flourished in a dominant performance at Penn State on Jan. 11, but that was not the iteration of Potter the Badgers normally received. Heading into late January, it was clear that Potter needed to develop more… and that Greg Gard had to trust Potter more by letting him learn on the job.
Then Kobe King left the team… and while it was unclear exactly how Wisconsin as a group would react to that unfortunate event, the one obviously good byproduct of that roster shakeup was that it meant Potter would HAVE to play more. Gard didn’t really have much of a choice. It didn’t mean playing Potter 35 minutes per night, but it DID mean he would have to play 22-25 minutes more often.
Sure enough, Potter learned how to play defense with more on-the-job training. He became less of a liability at that end of the floor, which made it easier for Gard to rely on him.
Saturday, that reliance from the coaching staff and his own improvement as a player showed up in a big way. Potter played tough defense down the stretch, enabling Wisconsin to deliver its decisive 12-0 run to turn the game around. He also collected two of the day’s three biggest offensive boards, both setting up 3-point plays (one an old fashioned “and one,” the other a 3-point shot) inside the final 5:30 of regulation. Those two 3-point plays set up by Potter’s offensive rebounding gave Wisconsin a 54-51 lead.
The other really big offensive rebound of the day belonged to Nate Reuvers, whose putback sealed the win in the final moments… but had Potter not collected those two offensive boards in the midst of UW’s 12-0 run, the Badgers wouldn’t have been in position to win.
Micah Potter could not play Indiana in December. He sure made this game count in March. As a result, Wisconsin is champion of the Big Ten for 2020.
It was worth the wait for Micah Potter.