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Ailing Hughes held scoreless

Tamira Madsen  —  3/29/2008 7:08 am

DETROIT -- Trevon Hughes hoped he would be able to push past ankle and foot injuries that have caused him fits throughout the course of the University of Wisconsin men's basketball season.

But that wouldn't be the case for the sophomore starting point guard, who appeared to suffer a right foot injury in the first half of the Badgers' 73-56 setback to Davidson on Friday night in an NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal at Ford Field.

Hughes, coming off a 25-point performance in UW's 72-55 second-round win against Kansas State six days earlier, was limited to just eight minutes in the first half against Davidson and 12 minutes total.

His final line: Zero points on 0-for-3 shooting -- including two 3-point attempts -- and two rebounds.

Hughes, whose feet and ankles were both taped, walked gingerly in the locker room following the game and wasn't made available to the media.

Sophomore Jason Bohannon came off the bench and played at the point for a huge chunk of the game, scoring 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting in 34 minutes of action.

Bohannon said Hughes' absence had little to no factor on the outcome of the game. Hughes had averaged 16.5 points per game in the Badgers' two NCAA tournament victories over Cal State Fullerton and Kansas State.

"It was tough, but we tried to pick it up some other way," Bohannon said. "Some other guys stepped up, and we just didn't get it done. I just give credit to Davidson for how they played the basketball game."

Hughes initially suffered a left ankle injury in practice Dec. 28 and was sidelined one day later for one game, during the Badgers' 67-66 victory at Texas. The Queens, N.Y. native did not miss any other games the remainder of the season, but irritated the ankle injury again March 15 in the Badgers' 57-42 semifinal win against Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament.

Junior forward Joe Krabbenhoft echoed Bohannon's sentiments. He added that Bohannon did a decent job in a reserve capacity -- another fallout was that senior Michael Flowers played all 40 minutes -- and that the Badgers wouldn't use Hughes' limited role as an excuse for their struggles.

"Jason Bohannon had to be out there for (34) minutes and he worked his butt off and that's all we can talk about," Krabbenhoft said. "It was tough losing (Hughes); he's a great player. But Jason did a great job.

"Our two guards (Bohannon and Michael Flowers) were out there all day, and to go against those other two guards (Davidson's Stephen Curry and Jason Richards), who are great guards also, it was tough."

Meanwhile, Hughes said last week after UW's win against Cal State Fullerton that his ankle needed rest, but he anticipated playing as best he could.

"It just needs time to get stronger," Hughes said.

While UW coach Bo Ryan said he felt the Badgers would have played a better game if Hughes had been healthy. When asked to specify the nature of Hughes' injury and how it was aggravated against Davidson, he was hesitant to elaborate.

"Well, we don't discuss injuries," Ryan said. "But it occurred seven, eight minutes, I think, into the first half. Exactly how (it happened), I'm not sure."

Coming into the game against the Wildcats, Hughes had averaged 11.2 points, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game for the Badgers.

Tamira Madsen  —  3/29/2008 7:08 am