'Good To Be Back': Indiana Native Connor Essegian Posts Double-Double For Wisconsin

Wisconsin freshman guard Connor Essegian scored 14 points and had 11 rebounds at Assembly Hall on Saturday, returning to his home home state. The 6-foot-4 guard from Fort Wayne, Ind. scored 2,526 career points for Central Noble High School.

Jack Ankony | Jan 14, 2023

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Wisconsin guard Connor Essegian's Indiana homecoming ended in a 63-45 loss, but the freshman out of Central Noble High School continued to impress.

Essegian led No. 18 Wisconsin with 14 points and 11 rebounds – his first collegiate double-double – on Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. It wasn't Essegian's most efficient shooting night, making 4-of-13 attempts in total, but he was the go-to Badger for most of the afternoon. Essegian said this game can serve as a learning experience, forcing Wisconsin to find other ways to win.

As a team, the Badgers shot 32.1 percent overall, 20.8 percent from 3 and 36.4 percent form the free throw line. Essegian made 3-of-7 3-point shots, a bright spot in an otherwise dismal offensive afternoon for Wisconsin.

"[Essegian] has gotten the attention of defenses, there's no doubt," Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. "He moves without the ball. He creates stuff for others by his movement. 11 rebounds, that's effort for a kid that hasn't been in the weight room enough yet and will be. He's really taken advantage of his opportunities, and I've got to make sure the opportunities don't decrease."

Essegian has come off the bench in all 16 games this season, but his 33 minutes of action tied with Carter Gilmore and Max Klesmit for a team-high. Gard said that trend will only continue.

"I'm very happy with how he's coming," Gard said of Essegian. "He got the most minutes he's probably had all year today, and he's showed me nothing to show that he shouldn't be playing a lot of minutes."

Essegian was largely overlooked as a high school recruit, considered a three-star recruit and ranked No. 226 in the class of 2022, according to the 247Sports Composite. He chose Wisconsin over offers from Wake Forest, Butler, Creighton, Minnesota and others.

At Central Noble High School in Albion, Ind., Essegian scored 2,526 career points to break a school record that stood for 44 years. As a senior, Essegian averaged over 26 points per game on 43 percent 3-point shooting, leading Central Noble to the Class 2A state basketball championship game.

Essegian said he had quite a few ticket requests for Saturday's matchup in his home state.

"It's good to be kind of back, especially back home in the state," Essegian said. "It was good to be able to be back here in front of people, playing in front of people I don't normally get to play in front of and just seeing people in general. It wasn't necessarily obviously the way I wanted it to happen, but it was good to be back."

Through 16 games as a freshman at Wisconsin, Essegian is averaging 10.5 points per game while shooting 45.3 percent from 3-point land. The Badgers are in the midst of a three-game losing streak without leading scorer Tyler Wahl, but Gard has been intrigued by the response from players like Essegian.

"You want to see how guys respond when adversity hits," Gard said. "To watch guys like Max Klesmit, Connor Essegian diving on the floor in the last couple minutes of the game tells me effort is not our issue, and it's never been the issue with this group. I've never had to coach effort. Execution, decisions, some of those things, some tactical things, we've been better than we were this afternoon. But the effort and how guys continue to battle, that's the character of those young men."

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