Why Greg Gard couldn’t be more proud of a Wisconsin Badgers freshman forward
A freshman forward is quickly becoming a key piece for Wisconsin men's basketball. Here’s why Greg Gard is so proud of Aleksas Bieliauskas.
Every once in a while, a college basketball story surfaces that doesn’t fit the typical recruiting-to-rotation arc. It’s not linear, it’s not predictable, and it’s not something a program can plan for. It’s simply a kid showing up, navigating the unknown, and forcing his way into relevance.
And if you’re looking for that type of story on this season’s rendition of the Wisconsin men’s basketball team, it’s Aleksas Bieliauskas.
This is a player who arrived in Madison by way of Lithuania, whose first language isn’t English, who committed to Wisconsin without ever meeting a single teammate or member of the coaching staff face-to-face. No safety net. No soft landing. Just a freshman landing in America, adapting on the fly, and trying to figure out what Big Ten basketball even looks like.
“I think the biggest thing with Alexis is he’s just more comfortable and more at ease,” Gard said of Bieliauskas. “He didn’t get here until late August, so you imagine coming from Lithuania, knowing no one. He hadn’t met anyone in person. He actually did meet Coach [Lance] Randall when he was over at the U20s, but other than that, nothing. I saw him in early September walking down Dayton Street, and I stopped, jumped out of my truck, and went to meet him. I’d done Zoom calls, but never had met him.”
And now, nine games in, he might be the hinge point that’s reshaping Wisconsin’s frontcourt identity. Greg Gard certainly sees it. He didn’t hide his pride after the Marquette win, and he didn’t temper expectations.
“I can’t be more proud of him, of how he’s just stayed the course,” Gard said of Bieliauskas. “He’s tough, he wants to get better. He’s just thirsting for knowledge and instruction. I’m just so happy for him. In a short period of time, he’s progressed and really immersed himself in the team.”
That’s not the language of a coach talking about a depth piece. That’s the language of someone who knows he might have found something.
Professional Experience, College Ready
Bieliauskas isn’t the typical freshman, and his résumé makes that obvious before he ever took the floor for Wisconsin.
He played for Žalgiris II in the Lithuanian NKL, averaging 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds across 45 games while shooting 39.3% on 3-pointers, and even made appearances for Žalgiris in Lithuania’s top league, the LKL.
That background shows up in his game: the defensive feel, the ball-screen awareness, the physicality, and the willingness to do the dirty work that usually takes frontcourt players a year or two to figure out. That maturity blends with an impressive shooting touch Wisconsin badly needs and a low-usage profile that lets the offense breathe around its scorers.
In his first nine games, Bieliauskas is averaging 4.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 0.7 blocks, and 0.6 assists in just over 15 minutes a contest, while shooting an efficient 53.5% from the field and 42.9% from three. Those numbers don’t exactly jump off the page on their own, but they start to look a whole lot more impressive when you stack them next to how he’s performed in the limited sample size since joining the starting lineup.
In his two starts, he’s averaged 8.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in 23.5 minutes, rebounding with force and defending with a reliability that allows Wisconsin to play cleaner, simpler basketball on both ends of the floor. The Marquette game showcased that impact, as the 6-foot-10 big man scored 11 points, 10 rebounds, and a block on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting.
“I think this game really helps me with my confidence,” Bieliauskas said following the 96-76 win over the Golden Eagles. “I’ve scored in the last three games. On the trip [out West], I didn’t score any points, but I know my role. It’s definitely different from what I used to, and this game definitely helps me. The guys are giving me the ball, and I’m hot, so yeah.”
While he brings plenty of experience from European ball-screen systems, which was a big reason Wisconsin’s staff pursued him, the offense isn’t built for him, and that’s the point. He’s not Austin Rapp, a player this staff has long believed in and whose game is wired for scoring. Bieliauskas is something different, something the starting lineup showed that it needed.