A year ago at this time, Ray Nixon was a freshman watching his team begin its run to a second-straight Big Ten championship — mainly from the bench. Nixon, who averaged just slightly above four minutes per game during the 2002-03 campaign, may have been better served to sit out and redshirt. The carefree sophomore forward is not worried about what some would deem lost time.

“I had a lot of thoughts about redshirting, but I was just so anxious to play. So, I’ll just use my redshirt another time,” Nixon joked.

Nixon, who chose Wisconsin over Virginia, Boston College and Xavier, said that location played a large part in his decision to come to Madison.

“[I liked] the atmosphere when I came on my visit, and it’s close to home so my parents can come to all of the games, too,” Nixon said.

After his uneventful freshman season, Nixon put in time in the off-season working on adjusting to the physical nature of the college game that he may not have been prepared for last season.

“In the off-season I just worked on defense and adjusting to the post play,” the sophomore forward said.

Nixon’s improvement on the defensive end has not gone unnoticed.

“I like the way he guards the perimeter,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “If you’re a 6-foot-2 guard trying to get a shot off on him, Ray’s proven he can do a pretty good job on his feet. When he was here at our basketball camp, that’s why we recruited him.”

The Whitefish Dominican graduate, who led his team to an incredible 24-1 record in his final prep season, is now a key cog in a deep Badger team looking to capture its third-straight Big Ten crown. Nixon also has the perfect, high-energy mindset for a player coming off the bench.

“That’s just my mentality — come in and bring energy and do the stuff I can in the little time I got there,” Nixon said.

No. 4 in the cardinal and white certainly has made the most of his time on the court. Nixon displayed his athleticism and skill early this season, tallying five points, six rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 16 minutes on opening night at the Kohl Center against Eastern Illinois. He followed that up with a five-point, five-rebound performance against Rutgers, again in only 16 minutes. Against UW-Milwaukee, Nixon showed a deft long-range shooting touch, scoring eight points on three-for-three shooting (including two-for-two on threes) in just 10 minutes. For Nixon, it seems with more minutes comes a healthy swagger.

“My jump shot has been coming off of confidence,” Nixon said.

That confidence in his jump shot has translated to success in Big Ten conference play. In the Big Ten opener against Indiana, Nixon had a breakout game, posting eight points, including a thunderous baseline slam dunk, on three-for-four shooting overall and two-for-three on three-pointers.

In the Badgers’ lone blemish on their Big Ten record this year, at Purdue, Nixon was one of Wisconsin’s best performers, as he scored nine points (a career high) on three-for-five shooting, including two-for-three for three pointers. Throughout the Big Ten campaign so far, Nixon has stepped up no matter what the Badgers have needed. A case-in-point came against Michigan, when a jolt of energy was needed and Nixon responded, doing some dirty work and snatching two key offensive rebounds and blocking a shot.

The incredible aspect to the sophomore’s performance during the Big Ten season has been the fact that he played very little during the conference campaign last year. How has he been able to do it?

“I think it’s basically just improvement. I did a lot of improving this year, you know, changed my way of thinking,” Nixon said. “I had to do better at defense and rebounding, and that’s been getting me a lot more minutes lately.”

In those increased minutes, the Milwaukee native has been able to display his rare combination of size and athleticism, as very few college players who stand 6-foot-8 have a vertical jump of 33 and a half inches. Badger fans can only hope that he continues to improve. As for Nixon, he is going to continue to work hard and not look too far ahead.

“I just have to wait for those next two years to come.”