Expect at least one major offensive category to improve drastically as the season progresses. Hopefully during the three games of hell week coming right up.

By Peter Cameron, BADGER STRIPES

After seven games, including four against high-quality opponents, the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team is 5-2. Now they enter perhaps their toughest stretch of the season, in which they play #2 Marquette at home on Saturday, at East Lansing to face Michigan State on Tuesday, and at #3 Arizona on Saturday, Dec. 9.

Here are some numbers that tell us who this team has been, and maybe who it will become.

19%

After injuring his back in the Badgers opener against Arkansas State, former freshman phenom Connor Essegian has been out of sync to start the season. He is shooting a dreadful 19% from 3-point range after shooting 36% last year en route to setting a UW freshman record for most threes hit in a season. He hit 2 of 6 from three, played some good defense and earned a season-high 14 minutes in the victory earlier this week against Western Illinois. Maybe he’s finding his rhythm.

23%

AJ Storr is leading the team in scoring, at more than 13 points per game. But after burning up the nets last year from deep — he shot 40% from three — Storr is shooting a lousy 23% from behind the arc this year. At times, the 6’7” shooting small forward, who clearly has the green light from the coaching staff to score, has tried to do too much offensively, leading to forced shots. Expect his 3-point shooting to positively regress towards the mean, as more shots should start falling. Hopefully starting Saturday when Marquette comes to town.

90%

But Storr’s free throw percentage has been a near-perfect 90% on 19-21 shooting to lead the team. Keep attacking the bucket, AJ.

30%

This is the 3-point percentage of both starting guards Chucky Hepburn and Max Klesmit. The pair shot 40% and 38%, respectively, from three last year. Expect those two to positively regress to the mean as well. Hepburn was sick during the Badgers’ victorious 2-game tournament in Florida last week, so expect him to really bounce back as his health improves.

52% —> 42% —> 56%

Tyler Wah can’t (or won’t) shoot a jump shot, but that doesn’t stop the extremely athletic 6’9” power forward from scoring.

After shooting about 52% from the floor in his junior season, his shooting percentage plummeted to 42% last year in his senior season after an ankle injury cost him some games and derailed a promising Badgers season. In a year when UW lost nearly every game by a bucket or two, that huge decrease in Wahl’s shooting percentage was the difference between another top-four finish in the league vs. where they ended up: 12th.

In his fifth year, Wahl is converting 56% of his shots from the floor, virtually all of which are right around the rim. He’s reversing the hoop well, using the rim to protect his shot from taller defenders.

Wahl converting on more than half his shots bodes well for the Badgers’ chances this year.

Of course, he’s shooting a similar 59% from the free throw line, which is extremely poor, but I think we’re all just going to have to live with that.

Wahl tried to add 3-point shooting to his game last season, shooting 10-34 from the arc for a below-average rate of 29%. He appears to have abandoned that plan. The super senior has tossed up only two 3-point shots on the season — probably a good thing — missing both of them.

74 ppg vs. 65 ppg

The Badgers are scoring about 74 points per game this year, up from 65 last year. That’s not surprising after UW added Storr and a crop of freshman who were ready to contribute right away.

64 ppg vs. 64 ppg

Wisconsin is allowing approximately 64 points per game, nearly identical to what they gave up last year. That’s a good sign in a year when their scoring has increased. The defense has clearly improved after some discombobulated showings earlier this season, including giving up 80 points to a good Tennessee team in Madison.

Badger Stripes is a sports news organization that provides in-depth coverage of Wisconsin athletics. Follow us on Facebook.