Why Nigel Hayes Is Wisconsin Basketball's X-Factor in 2014-15

With great hype comes with great expectations, and such is the case for the third-ranked Wisconsin Badgers this season.

One of the biggest reasons why the Badgers were ranked so high in the preseason AP Top 25 poll—their highest preseason rank ever as a matter of fact—is because they feature four returning starters from last year’s Final Four team.

Two of them, Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, are preseason All-Big Ten players.

However, Wisconsin’s success this season may actually depend on the guy who fills in the fifth spot in the rotation, Nigel Hayes.

Hayes was the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year and a member of the All-Freshman team last season, and the 6’7” sophomore forward averaged 7.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 17.4 minutes played per game.

Those numbers have jumped significantly already after just one week of action this season.

Over Wisconsin’s first three games, Hayes is averaging 31 minutes while recording 15.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. He's putting up better numbers in virtually every statistical category:

	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	BPG	SPG	PF	TPG	PPG
2014-15	31.0	.577	.600	.650	11.3	1.7	1.3	0.7	0.7	1.0	15.3
2013-14	17.4	.510	.000	.585	2.8	0.9	0.5	0.8	2.6	1.2	7.7

Hayes’ improvement may have come as a surprise to many, but not to head coach Bo Ryan.

Jesse Temple, who covers the Badgers for Fox Sports Wisconsin, tweeted about an encounter between Hayes and Ryan during the preseason:

So far, Hayes has indeed looked better.

After putting up six and 15 points, respectively, in Wisconsin’s first two games, Hayes exploded on Wednesday, scoring a career-high 25 points while grabbing 11 rebounds in the Badgers’ 84-60 win over Green Bay.

A few of Hayes’ highlights from that game can be seen between the 0:33 and 0:52 marks in the video below:

The three-pointer Hayes made in that clip was his third on the season in five tries, and it’s proof that his hard work on his outside shooting during the offseason is paying off.

Last year, Hayes did not have much of a shooting touch and, as a result, did not attempt a single three-pointer.

Consequently, opponents started to sag off on him whenever he had the ball on the perimeter and Hayes knew he wanted to do something to change that.

Hayes spoke with Temple about this:

"

Me being able to shoot, it will make the game a lot easier. I watched film over our last year's games and I saw where I'm sitting here on the 3-point line and the guy guarding me is helping all the way over. You know that hinders the other guys' effectiveness on offense, where Sam [Dekker] can't drive because there's another guy in his way.

With me being able to shoot that, that guy will either continue to do that, I'll make that shot, or he'll come out and give Sam or Trae [Jackson], whoever else, a driving lane.

"

Hayes has shown in the early going that the three-pointer is indeed a new part of his arsenal, and if he keeps putting up performances like the one he had against Green Bay, then people should start heeding Ryan’s words and pay attention to the rising sophomore.

Of course, Kaminsky and Dekker are and will be the focal points of the team throughout the season, but Hayes is the player who can further propel the Badgers’ success this year.