Greg Gard offers halftime update on Chucky Hepburn ankle injury

After Wisconsin starting point guard Chucky Hepburn exited Sunday’s second round game against Iowa State with an ankle injury, Badgers coach Greg Gard offered an update at halftime. Gard said the team will have to adapt in the event Hepburn doesn’t come back, but didn’t officially rule him out for the second half.

“We’ve played through a lot of injuries and illnesses all year, so we’ve had different guys out at different times, including Chucky,” Gard said on the sidelines. “We’re a team, so we’ll have to see how he’s doing at halftime and rally around him.”

Although the Badgers were holding out hope, it didn’t seem likely at the time that Hepburn would be in condition to return. That proved to be the case as TNT’s AJ Ross confirmed that he was out the remainder of the game shortly after the beginning of the second half.

Hepburn rolled his left ankle during a defensive sequence against the Cyclones with under five minutes in the first half, staying on the floor for several moments after. Wisconsin trainers had to help him off the court, as he was unable to walk on his own back to the locker room to be evaluated. The true freshman from Omaha had yet to score at the time of his exit, having shot 0-for-3 from the floor, though he did manage two rebounds.

On the season, he started 31 games for the Badgers, earning Big Ten All-Freshman honors at the conclusion of the regular season. He averaged 8.2 points per game and a team-high 2.4 assists in his first college season.

The Badgers trailed Iowa State by a score of 27-26 at the break after a back-and-forth first half. Guards Brad Davison and Johnny Davis combined for 19 of their points in the half, but will certainly need some help to finish things out in the second. Neither team led by more than five points in the early going, so we’ll see if either side creates any separation in the second.