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Before the Wisconsin Badgers tip off with the No. 18 Iowa Hawkeyes, Jeff Potrykus dropped some major news on everyone on Twitter noting that starting redshirt sophomore wing Kobe King was not in Iowa with the team.
#Badgers will be without Kobe King tonight. Did not travel with the team from Madison. Not health related.
— Jeff Potrykus (@jaypo1961) January 27, 2020
Potrykus went on to note that King was “frustrated with the direction of the team this season.” Now, no one fully knows what any of this means, and the official statement from the Wisconsin men’s basketball team account says that King is dealing with a “personal matter.” That could be anything...but it doesn’t sound great.
Kobe King will not participate in tonight’s game. He is attending to a personal matter and did not make the trip to Iowa City.
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) January 27, 2020
This was the only comment the team had on the matter as both head coach Greg Gard and team’s spokesman Justin Doherty were unavailable for comment.
King has been a key part of the Wisconsin team this year and is second on the team in points per game with 10, third on the team with 30 assists, 28.3 minutes per game and 159 field goal attempts. He is first on the team in scoring during B1G play, averaging 12.6 points per game.
The Badgers just got blown out by Purdue on Friday and will be looking to get back on the right track against Iowa Monday night. That will be much more difficult know that King won’t be in the lineup.
We will update this post as we learn more.