Wisconsin moves up a spot in the latest AP men's basketball top 25 poll

Wisconsin moved up one spot to 23rd in The Associated Press men’s basketball poll released Monday.

The Badgers are coming off an 80-53 victory over Chicago State.

UW (9-3, 1-0 Big Ten) is off until Jan. 2 when it resumes Big Ten play against visiting Iowa.

Will Chucky Hepburn be ready for Iowa?

Junior guard Chucky Hepburn suffered an apparent groin injury early in the second half of the victory over Chicago State.

Head coach Greg Gard said afterward he thought Hepburn would be sore but fine. However, Hepburn’s status for the Iowa game likely won’t be determined for several days.

Hepburn has 35 assists and just five turnovers in the last 7 ½ games. With more scoring options available this season, Hepburn has been able to focus on distributing.

Through 12 games last season he had 130 field-goal attempts, was shooting hitting just 33.3% of his two-point attempts and had 35 assists and 18 turnovers. Through 12 games this season, he has 97 field-goal attempts, has hit 47.4% of his two-point attempts and has 47 assists and 14 turnovers.

Badgers putting the ball in the basket

UW hit 28 of 56 shots (50.0%) in the victory over Chicago State. That marked the fourth time this season UW has made at least 50% of its shots.

The Badgers are 7-0 this season when they shoot at least 42.0% and they lead the Big Ten in free-throw shooting at 76.6%. They shot 69.1% from the free-throw line last season.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin up to No. 23 in Dec. 25 men's basketball AP top 25 poll