University of Wisconsin men’s basketball’s sophomore standout Ethan Happ continued to rake in national notoriety this week as he was named to the Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List Tuesday after earning Co-Big Ten Player of the Week honors Monday.
The watch list marks Happ’s fourth national watch list, including the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year, Naismith Player of the Year and the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25.
The Badger sophomore’s most recent watch list is composed of 19 players in the NCAA and recognizes the USBWA’s Player of the Year during the Final Four in March. Happ remains one of the few Wisconsin players in contention for these awards, though he is not considered a favorite for any of them.
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One award that the Illinois native could very well bring back to Madison is the Big Ten Player of the Year, an award that he is widely considered to be the current No. 2 candidate behind Purdue University’s Caleb Swanigan. Despite Swanigan’s impressive and league leading 16 double-doubles on the year, Happ ranks third in the Big Ten in field goal percentage, rebounding and steals.
But even with his collective performance in the season, Happ earned his first Big Ten Player of the Week honors due to his dominant effort in two close wins over Michigan University and Minnesota University. The sophomore averaged 19.5 points, nine rebounds, 4.5 assists, 3.5 blocks and 1.5 steals in both contests and cemented himself as the focal point of head coach Greg Gard’s offense.
While he was only an ESPN three-star recruit coming out of high school, Happ has come into his own under the swing offense at Wisconsin and diversified his game to be everywhere on the floor. Happ leads the nation as the only player with at least 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists, 1.5 steals and one block per game.
With the two more accolades on his shelf, the Badger phenom can hope to keep the ball rolling as the team travels to Rutgers University and Illinois University this coming week. While the squad boasts a 12-0 record at home this year, they are only 3-2 on the road and will need Happ to step up to boost their confidence away from the Kohl Center.
