INSIDE MEN'S BASKETBALL
BY PATRICK HERB
@BadgerMBB
SCHEDULE (20-9, 11-5)
Last Week
Feb. 26
Nebraska
March 3 Purdue
W, 77-46
L, 56-69
This Week
Thursday at #10 Michigan St. 8 p.m.
Sunday
at Penn State
11 a.m.
Next Five
Mar. 14-17 Big Ten Tournament
Mar. 19-24 NCAA Rounds 1-3
Sam's Club: Dekker in a
league of his own
Freshman vying for Big Ten Sixth Man award
E
ntering the season, expectations were high
for Badgers freshman Sam
Dekker.
The Sheboygan native
and 2012 Wisconsin Mr.
Basketball award winner
was regarded as one of the
most promising freshmen
in the country even before
he donned the cardinal and
54 » VARSITY
MAR CH 7, 2013
white in the fall.
With three-fourths of his
first collegiate season in the
books, Dekker has met those
expectations and is now
emerging as one of the Big
Ten's most deserving Sixth
Man of the Year candidates
in the country's deepest conference.
Not only is Dekker argu-
TBA
TBA
ably the Big Ten's most lethal weapon off the bench, but he has also been
the conference's top scorer among
sixth men. Dekker, who is averaging
9.4 points per game in Big Ten play,
has reached double-figures in six
straight contests for UW, tying his
career-high with 19 points in a win
over Nebraska on Feb. 26.
Over his last six games, the freshman is displaying the numbers of an
All-Big Ten performer, shooting 60.5
percent from the field, 52.0 percent
from 3-point range and 86.0 percent
from the free throw stripe. Dekker's
impact has put him in position to become just UW's second Big Ten Sixth
Man of the Year award winner (Jason Bohannon, 2008) and may also
push him into the running for postseason All-Big Ten accolades.
Road warriors
» Wisconsin, which travels to take
on No. 10 Michigan State this
week, has won each of its last two
road games against top-10 Big
Ten teams, winning at No. 8 Ohio
State, 63-60, and No. 2 Indiana,
64-59, this season.
