Wisconsin basketball: Nate Reuvers named B1G Player of the Week

The first week of the college basketball season has come and gone and so the first weekly B1G conference awards were released on Monday. Wisconsin Badgers forward Nate Reuvers was named Player of the Week by the conference, his first career B1G award.

The junior from Lakeville, Minn. averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds and 6.5 blocks in two games for the Badgers last week (a win over Eastern Illinois and a loss vs. No. 20 Saint Mary’s).

In the Wisconsin home opener against EIU, Reuvers tallied 14 points, a career high 14 rebounds and tied the school record, which he already held, with nine blocks. Per the UW press release: “Reuvers became just the third player in the country since 2012 to post at least 14 points, 14 rebounds and nine blocks in a game. In fact, no Big Ten player has reached those numbers in a game since at least 1996-97.”

In the season opener against a talented Saint Mary’s squad, Reuvers scored a career high 22 points, while also grabbing six boards and swatting four shots. Reuvers leads the NCAA averaging 6.5 blocks per game for players who have played more than one game.

Reuvers is the first Badger to be named Big Ten Player of the Week since Ethan Happ did it last season (Dec. 10, 2018). Wisconsin has two games this week, both at the Kohl Center, Wednesday vs. McNeese and Sunday vs. Marquette. We will have much more on both games throughout the week right here at B5Q.