The last time Johnny Davis was in front of a sold-out crowd at the Kohl Center, he was left to watch from the bench as his University of Wisconsin men's basketball teammates fell shy of securing sole possession of the regular-season Big Ten Conference title.
Less than a year after an injury forced him to sit on the sidelines as the Badgers fell to visiting Nebraska 74-73 to end their season tied with Illinois for a share of the conference crown, Davis will be center court on Saturday morning before UW hosts Rutgers.
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The La Crosse native is set to serve as the Badgers' latest honorary captain and the team has advised fans coming to the game to arrive early for a pregame presentation.
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A consensus All-American and the Big Ten Player of the Year for the 2021-22 season, Davis was selected No. 10 overall in the 2022 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards, becoming the first Badger drafted since Frank Kaminsky was picked ninth by the Charlotte Hornets and Sam Dekker 18th by the Houston Rockets in 2015.
Entering the All-Star break, Davis is averaging 1.2 points and 0.6 rebounds in 13 games as a rookie.
Davis, who's played 12 games for the Capital City Go-Gos in the NBA's developmental G-League while also recovering from a hip injury this season, returned to the Wizards' lineup on Feb. 6, scoring two points on 1-of-3 shooting in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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He has appeared in three of Washington's six games entering the All Star break, scoring five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just over 11 minutes of action during that stretch.
As a freshman with the Badgers during the 2020-21 season, Davis came off the bench to average 7.0 points and 4.1 rebounds while playing 24.4 minutes per game.
Davis spent a portion of the summer before his sophomore season at UW playing for Team USA in the Under-19 World Cup in Latvia and taking home the gold medal.
He blossomed in his second season with the Badgers, averaging a team-high 19.7 points a game along with 8.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals in 34.2 minutes a contest.
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Davis didn't waste time drawing national attention as a sophomore, earning MVP honors at the Maui Invitational tournament in November while breaking the 30-point mark for the first of three times that season.
One of Davis' most impressive outings came as he scored a career-high 37 points on 13-of-24 shooting to go along with 14 rebounds to help No. 23 UW upset No. 3 Purdue at Mackey Arena.
Davis' strong play continued into the NCAA Tournament, where he scored UW’s last 14 points in a 67-60 victory over Colgate in the opening round while finishing with 25 points and eight rebounds to help the Badgers advance.
The second round of the tournament didn't go as smoothly for UW, with freshman point guard Chucky Hepburn suffering an injury in a 54-49 loss to Iowa State and Davis going 0 of 7 from 3-point range while finishing with 17 points and nine rebounds.
UW is honoring a former player before each home game this season as the program celebrates its 125th season. Previous players to be recognized include Wes Matthews, Jon Leuer, Trent Jackson, Mike Kelly, Trevon Hughes, Joe Chrnelich, Kammron Taylor, Rick Olson, Sean Mason, Greg Stiemsma and Mike Wilkinson.
