StaTuesday: March Madness milestones for Badgers' Hayes, Koenig

Published Mar. 21, 2017 11:40 a.m. ET

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Tom Dierberger

Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig are looking to tie the Badgers' record for most Final Four appearances.

Wisconsin Badgers seniors Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes are no strangers to the spotlight.

Hayes and Koenig have played in 149 and 147 career collegiate games, respectively, but they’ll be remembered most for the 11 percent of those contests spent competing in the NCAA tournament, college basketball’s biggest stage.

As freshmen, they came off the bench for a team that reached the Final Four in Dallas. The next season, it was a trip to Indianapolis for the national title game. Last year, Koenig and Hayes led their team to the Sweet 16. And in their final year as Badgers, they knocked off Villanova, college basketball’s defending champions, as a No. 8 seed and are currently pushing for a school-record third career Final Four appearance.

With two seconds left and the game tied in last year’s second-round game against Xavier, Koenig caught an inbounds pass, took one dribble to the corner and nailed a 3-pointer as he was falling down in front of Wisconsin’s bench. This past Saturday, Hayes -- not to be outdone -- caught an inbounds pass of his own and completed a Michael Jordan-like baseline spin move for a reverse layup to knock off top-seeded Villanova.

These two have always played their best basketball in March. Not surprisingly, they both rank at the top of Wisconsin’s NCAA tournament history books.

In fact, Koenig and Hayes will play in their 17th career tournament game in the matchup against Florida on Friday, tying Josh Gasser for the most in Badgers history.

Koenig’s sharp-shooting abilities in the tournament rank him first in Badgers postseason history with 31 makes and 79 attempts from downtown. The La Crosse, Wis., native currently sits fourth in school annals in postseason scoring, only seven points behind Hayes.

Hayes ranks third with 166 NCAA tournament points, but the 6-foot-8 forward does more than just score. He is littered among Wisconsin's all-time leaders in the tournament. In his 16 NCAA tournament appearances, he also ranks second in rebounds (79), first in offensive rebounds (34), third in free throws (41), tied for fourth -- with Koenig -- in assists (28), fifth in steals (11) and tied for seventh (with fellow senior Vitto Brown) in 3-pointers (11).

These two names will be remembered at the Kohl Center for a long time. But they could go from postseason heroes to legends with another deep run into the NCAA tournament in their senior year.

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