Tuesday's Border Battle will be a showcase of Minnesota talent on both sides, but former AAU teammates Steven Crowl and Dawson Garcia are entering their matchup playing their best basketball for the Gophers and Badgers.
In Minnesota's 2020 class, Garcia and Crowl were standouts at Prior Lake and Eastview, respectively. They were members of D1 Minnesota's 17U team before their senior year.
A 6-11 transfer from North Carolina, Garcia's averaging 16.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.3 blocks and shooting 51% in his last four games, which included 18 points in the U's last game on Dec. 22 against Chicago State.
Crowl, a 7-foot junior center for the Badgers, is coming off his career-high with 25 points in last week's win against Western Michigan. He scored in double figures in four straight games for the first time in his career.
"It for sure felt good for me," Crowl said about the performance, tying his career high with 3-for-5 shooting from three-point range. "I had been struggling from beyond the arc, so that was the biggest thing to see a couple threes go down."
Last season, the Badgers defeated the Gophers 68-67 at Williams Arena with Crowl leading the way with 20 points and seven rebounds. You could tell playing the Gophers back in his home state for the first time meant a little more to him.
"I kind of grew up a Gophers fans to be honest," Crowl told reporters in Madison this week. "But once I got here that all went out the window. And no love there anymore."
Crowl and Tyler Wahl, who also played for D1 Minnesota with Gophers forward Jamison Battle in the 2019 class, are the only two Minnesotans on Wisconsin's team this season. Wahl, a former Lakeville North standout, leads UW with 14.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.
