Wisconsin basketball recruiting: Justin Taphorn will walk-on at UW

With the highs of football recruiting dominating the Wisconsin Badgers news recently, the basketball team obtained a new preferred walk-on commitment from Justin Taphorn on Friday.

A 6-foot-4 small forward out of Pekin, Illinois, Taphorn took to Twitter to announce his decision. Taphorn told B5Q that Greg Gard was his primary recruiter during the process and he intends to major in kinesiology. In the end Taphorn state that he chose to become a Badger over playing at Bradley University because “[Wisconsin] is a better fit for me with my major and what experience I want to have.”

As a senior Taphorn averaged 10.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists for his high school squad. A late addition to the roster, Taphorn appears to be a solid catch and shoot wing that should help bolster the team, primarily as a practice contributor to start. He comes from an athletic family, as his father played at UW-Green Bay, his older brother was a scholarship forward at Northwestern a handful of years ago, and his twin sister is slated to go to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for volleyball.

Taphorn is the second preferred walk-on expected to join the team this fall, joining Carter Gilmore. Overall he stands to be seventh player that will be a true freshman during the 2020-2021 season.

You can check out his senior highlights below.