Badgers 'Heavily Recruiting' Strech Forward in Transfer Portal

Wisconsin is aggressively pursuing a big man from the A-10.

By all accounts, the loss of Badgers starting point guard Chucky Hepburn has lit a fire under Greg Gard and the Wisconsin basketball program.

Jeff Goodman from the Field of 68 reported that the Wisconsin Badgers are one of four programs heavily recruiting UMass transfer forward Matt Cross, along with Iowa, TCU, and USC.

The 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward averaged 15.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals per game this past season en route to First Team All-Atlantic 10 conference honors. Notably, Cross shot 54% from the field and 33% from beyond the arc while playing 30 minutes a contest.

A Massachusetts native and former four-star recruit, Cross played two years at UMass after prior stints at Louisville and Miami. During his career, Cross has appeared in 95 games, starting 68 of them. In 2023-24 Cross led the Minutemen in rebounds, assists, steals and free throw percentage.

Coach Gard and the Wisconsin basketball team have no shortage of roles to fill heading into next season. The Badgers are expected to return just two starters, Max Klesmit and Steven Crowl.

"In today's college basketball, players are making transactional decisions all over the country at every level," Gad said. "There's no time to complain about the system in place. We're dedicating all of our energy right now into finding the next fits for our program."