Why did Tyler Wahl return to Wisconsin for a fifth season? What does he hope to get?

MADISON – As he sat in a makeshift interview room at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Tyler Wahl struggled to digest how Wisconsin’s season had just ended in the semifinals of the NIT.

Asked that night whether he would take advantage of the COVID option and return for his fifth season, Wahl couldn’t offer a definitive answer.

Yet the pain and frustration obvious in his face and voice were clear signs he didn’t want the 56-54 loss to North Texas to be his final college memory.

“Playing in the last week of March and it’s not in the NCAA Tournament?” Wahl said recently. “This isn’t the best.”

Tyler Wahl quickly realized that he would return to Wisconsin for his fifth college season

Wahl needed a few days to decompress before announcing April 4 he planned to return for a fifth season.

“I feel like it wasn’t too (tough) of a decision,” he said. “Deep down … it was an easy decision.”

Head coach Greg Gard gave Wahl time and space to mull his options but wasn’t surprised to see the versatile forward decide to stay at UW.

“I think after he let the dust settle — just the emotion of the season and his injury and everything he had gone through — and he was able to clear his mind,” Gard said, “I think he came to the realization that this is really good here and I want to make a run at a third title.”

Wahl helped UW win a share of the Big Ten regular-season title in 2020 and in 2022. By returning for the 2023-2024 season, Wahl has the opportunity to become the first UW player to be part of three championship teams.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to be a part of those teams that won Big Ten championships and have a piece of that,” Wahl said. “But this year, it is about our team. It’s not about me winning my third one. It’s about this team and the group that we’ve got. We’ve got a lot of good pieces.”

Why did Tyler Wahl return to the Badgers?

Wahl chose to return for myriad reasons.

The two that stand out:

Wahl wonders what might have been last season had he and guard Max Klesmit not missed time because of injuries and what could be this season.

“With the pieces that we had and the pieces that we’re adding,” he said, “I think this is a really special group.”

The Badgers were 2-0 in the Big Ten and 10-2 overall last season entering their game Jan. 3 against visiting Minnesota. They were 5-2 in games decided by five points or fewer.

Wahl suffered a severe ankle injury and played only nine minutes. UW prevailed, 63-60, but Wahl missed the next three games. The Badgers lost all three games — at Illinois, at home against Michigan State and at Indiana.

Wahl returned Jan. 17 against visiting Penn State and UW ended its losing streak with a 63-60 victory.

Klesmit suffered facial injuries and a concussion, however, and missed the next two games. UW lost both games — at Northwestern and at Maryland — to fall to 4-5 in the league and 12-7 overall.

The Badgers never were able to return to the level of play on display through the first 13 games of the season. They finished 9-11 in the Big Ten and missed the NCAA Tournament.

“I envision us taking a step up from where we left off before I got hurt, me and Max,” Wahl said. “We were winning a lot of games. We were battling through the tight ones, gritting them out if we were in a rock fight.”

Tyler Wahl never regained the form he showed before his injury and neither did the team

Although Wahl played in UW’s final 19 games — 14 Big Ten regular-season games, one game in the league tournament and four in the NIT — he wasn't as effective as he was before the injury.

Wahl averaged 14.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game before the injury. He was making 46.0% of his two-point attempts and 67.2% of his free throws.

After the injury, he hit 43.8% of his two-point attempts and just 60.0% of his free throws. His scoring average dipped to 10.1 points per game.

Why the drop-off? Because he wasn’t fully healed until after the season was over and he could rest.

“At the time, it’s not something you really notice and you think you can get through it,” he said. “But then when I sat down and everything was done and the season was over, I got healthy. My foot movement was back to normal.

“It just felt like a cloud disappeared from over my head, which was great.”

Writers who cover the Big Ten project UW to finish fifth this season. The UW coaches and players, encouraged by the mix of veterans and youth and a deeper rotation, sound as if they can make a run at the title.

Wahl is glad to be part of that journey.

“Looking back on it, I don’t regret coming back when I did,” he said of the injury last season. “I feel like we needed it. We were able to win a couple games. We’d win one, lose one.

“So, I don’t regret it and honestly I feel that going through that helped me get to where I’m at today and I’m really enjoying where I’m at with this program and where I’m at in life.”

More: In his third season at Wisconsin, guard Chucky Hepburn hopes to do more with less

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin's Tyler Wahl coming back for fifth season was easy decision