Anthony Davis was released from the UW Hospital and is “feeling better” after being stabbed in the thigh Saturday night, UW football coach Barry Alvarez reported Monday.

Davis was checked into the hospital Saturday night and received an unspecified number of stitches to repair the wound, which was a puncture of about a half-inch, according to Alvarez.

“Anthony was released from the hospital this morning,” Alvarez said Monday. “I haven’t had a chance to see him yet, but Dennis Helwig has visited with him. Physically, he feels much better. We’ll know a little bit more about where he is today or tomorrow. I’ll have a chance to see him this afternoon”

Alvarez said he had not talked to Davis about his availability for this Saturday’s game against Illinois.

“They didn’t get that far,” Alvarez said when asked about Davis’ playing status. “I was more concerned and still am more concerned for his health right now.”

Alvarez reported that while Davis was in the hospital he received an IV with antibiotics to prevent an infection. Alvarez also said that Davis’ injury could have been worse.

“I was told that the puncture was very close to an artery, which would have been very serious,” Alvarez said.

Davis’ injury adds to a list of fallen Badgers that has swelled in recent weeks. Wideout Lee Evans was shut down for the season two weeks ago, linebacker Jeff Mack has missed the last four games with a stinger, and quarterback Brooks Bollinger was knocked out of the game for the second time in three weeks against Iowa.

Alvarez reported that Bollinger’s status is also uncertain.

“We will test Brooks again. He was tested yesterday; he will be again tested tomorrow to see where he is,” Alvarez said.” If there had been a previous concussion involved, if there is head injury, they have some data now where they can have some readings and know exactly where they are rather than just guessing.

“He told me yesterday that he felt better than he did two weeks ago when he had similar tests. We’ll know where he is probably around practice time tomorrow and then we’ll move forward.”

Davis’ injury also compounds the off-field problems the Badgers have faced recently. One day before Davis was stabbed, Evans was arrested on tentative marijuana charges in Ridgeway, Wis., while driving to Iowa for the Nov. 2 game.

The off-field distractions seem to come at the wrong time for the Badgers, who have lost four of their last five games and must win at least one of their remaining three contests to become bowl-eligible.

Alvarez said it is the responsibility of his coaching staff to keep the UW players focused on what’s left of the season.

“We try to address things immediately and get them out of the way so our players can concentrate on what they need to concentrate on and be focused for the football game,” Alvarez said. “Unfortunately, when you have 120 people, you are going to have some incidents.

“Occasionally, much like many families, you have incidents, and you deal with them, and you move on. That’s the only thing I know. We talked to our players and made sure that they know what’s happening and what has happened and how to address it. [Illinois] is an important football game for us. That’ll be our focus.”

Alvarez said that although his players have been involved in such distractions, they are no different than normal students or other college athletes, and he reiterated that he did not want them viewed as though they were.

“I would guess that there are a number of altercations downtown every week,” Alvarez said. “We saw a riot this weekend. A lot of college students are going to be involved in those. My guys are going to do some things wrong occasionally. But I do not say that we have had a large number.

“I don’t know if anyone can supervise their players or try to inform their players any better than us. I don’t know what else we can do. We can’t baby-sit them. Things are going to happen. We’ll deal with them. I don’t want this to be painted as if we’ve had an overabundance of them, because I don’t feel we have.”

Off-field problems or not, the Badgers still have three tough games remaining on their schedule, against Illinois, No. 11 Michigan, and a dangerous Minnesota squad. One more win and the Badgers become bowl-eligible, but they would probably need to win two out of three games to receive an invite to a top-flight bowl. Center Al Johnson said the Badgers are trying to focus on the future as much as possible.

“We’ve got a lot of guys left on this team, and we need to make it as much not a distraction as we can. Our whole focus right now is on becoming bowl-eligible, and with three games left, we have to worry about winning the first one to give us seven [wins],” Johnson said. “We can’t do anything about what happened in the past, but now we just have to worry about where we can go from here.”