Through his four years at the University of Wisconsin, Jordan Taylor has been one of the most prolific point guards in program history.
On Monday night, Taylor led Wisconsin’s list of five players receiving All-Big Ten honors when he was named to the conference’s first team by the coaches and second team by the media. The Bloomington, Minn., native is the sixth Badger to be a two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection, joining Alando Tucker (2006 and 2007), Kirk Penney (2002 and 2003), Michael Finley (1993 and 1995), Ab Nicholas (1951 and 1952) and Don Rehfeldt (1949 and 1950).
Also earning honors were Ryan Evans and Jared Berggren (consensus honorable mention), as well as Josh Gasser (All-Defensive team) and Rob Wilson (UW’s Sportsmanship Award recipient).
“I’m very honored to have my name written alongside the great players in the Big Ten,” Taylor said in a statement. “Our league is so deep and talented this year; you can’t go wrong with any of the players on the three All-Big Ten teams or even the guys who earned honorable mention like Ryan (Evans) and Jared (Berggren). There is no question my being named All-Conference is a reflection of our team’s success and I owe a lot to my teammates and coaches for that. It’s a great honor.”
Taylor first earned All-Big Ten honors last season, and his selection this year is the 10th first-team all-conference honor in Bo Ryan’s 11-season tenure as head coach. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound guard led the Badgers in scoring (14.6 points per game), assists (4.1 per game) and steals (1.0 per game), and is also a midseason finalist for both the Cousy Award and the Naismith Trophy.
This season, Taylor joins Michigan State’s Draymond Green, Northwestern’s John Shurna, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger and Purdue’s Robbie Hummel on the first team. Green also earned the Big Ten Player of the Year award, while MSU head coach Tom Izzo was named the conference’s coach of the year.
Gasser, meanwhile, continued to round into one of Wisconsin’s most dependable players this season. After emerging as a freshman last year, Gasser started all 31 of the Badgers’ games, averaging 7.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.
Wisconsin leads the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 51.9 points per game, and also ranks second in opposing field goal percentage at 37.7 percent. The guard from Port Washington is UW’s first-ever sophomore to be named to the all-defensive team and just the fifth Badger all-time, joining Michael Flowers (2007 and 2008), Joe Krabbenhoft (2008), Tr?von Hughes (2010) and Taylor (2011).
“That’s a pretty awesome list of players and I never thought I’d be even close to being mentioned in the same breath as those guys,” Gasser said. “Those are players that I have grown up watching and they’re guys that I have tried to model my game after.
“Being named to the All-Defensive Team means a lot to me. I really pride myself on that end of the court, so to have coaches around the league recognize that gives me great pride. But at the same time, I think this is representative of our team defense. When we’re holding teams to the points and shooting percentage that we are, I realize that I’m just a part of that. But I’m proud to be honored.”
Berggren and Evans, both juniors, earned their first conference accolades.
After averaging 2.4 points in only 6.9 minutes per game last season, Berggren blossomed this year in scoring 10.4 points, grabbing 5.0 rebounds and blocking 1.6 shots in 27.6 minutes of playing time per game. His 51 blocks on the season are also the fifth-most in school history and the most in a season since 1995.
Evans, meanwhile, is second behind Taylor with 10.7 points per game and first with 6.9 rebounds per game. Last season, he averaged only 2.8 points and 2.3 rebounds in 11.6 minutes of playing time per game. Evans averaged 30.4 minutes on the floor this season.
Wilson was Wisconsin’s recipient for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, which honors individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. Recipients must also be in strong academic standing and demonstrate good citizenship outside of athletics.
Wisconsin finished the regular season 23-8 and 12-6 in Big Ten play, earning the Badgers the No. 4 seed in this weekend’s Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. The conference’s top four seeds earn a first-round bye in the tournament, and this year marks UW’s 12th-straight season with a conference tourney bye. Wisconsin will play the winner of No. 5 Indiana and No. 12 Penn State Friday at 1:30 p.m.
