Ben Brust Named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week

The Wisconsin Badgers won two huge overtime games this past week and Ben Brust was a tremendous factor in both. For that, he was named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week on Monday. Illinois' D.J. Richardson also shared the honor.

If you somehow hadn't heard (or just blacked out), Brust nailed a half-court heave at the fourth-quarter buzzer against No. 3 Michigan on Saturday. That sent the Badgres into overtime, where Brust nailed the game-winning three with less than a minute left. Brust finished with 14 points as the Badgers enjoyed their second win over an AP top-three team this season.

Earlier in the week, Brust netted a game-high 18 points in a double-overtime win against Iowa on Thursday night, adding six rebounds in 45 minutes on the floor.

Fun fact: Brust is Wisconsin's first conference player of the week since Jordan Taylor earned the honor on Jan. 23, 2012.

If the Badgers -- and Brust, in all fairness -- had shown an inkling of consistency this season, the Hawthorn Woods, Ill., native could be considered on the shortlist of the conference's most improved players. Brust is averaging 11.2 points per game this season -- 10.5 points per Big Ten game -- as well as 5.3 rebounds per game. He also leads the Badgers in assists (63), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.17), charges taken (8) and is tied for the team lead in steals (24). Last season, Brust averaged 7.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.