Connor Essegian played a career-high 33 minutes for Wisconsin on Saturday. Unfortunately, that playing time came in a blowout loss to Indiana, but Essegian more than held his own.

After the game, Greg Gard addressed his decision to give the freshman so much playing time.

“He got the most minutes he’s probably had all year and he’s shown me nothing to think that he shouldn’t be playing a lot of minutes,” said Gard on the performance.

Essegian has yet to start a game but was averaging 22 minutes per game coming into Saturday.

Essegian is averaging 10.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game off of the bench for the Badgers. On Saturday in Indiana, Essegian was one of the lone bright spots for the Badgers.

In a blowout 63-45 loss, Essegian led the team with 14 points and 11 rebounds. It was the first double-double of his career in Madison.

Based on Gard’s comments from Saturday, it would be safe to assume that Essegian will continue to see increased playtime.