Rob Wilson is a man of few words, and, lately, fewer minutes.
After impressing the UW coaches early with his athleticism and un-freshmanlike ability to pick things up quickly, the freshman guard from Cleveland has struggled lately.
The athleticism is still there, teasing coaches and teammates with tremendous potential.
But the execution just hasn’t been there. Despite that exciting start, Wilson is still, well, a freshman. 
“Sometimes freshmen kind of get into some things that, not all of them, obviously, but … you just have to keep (going),” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “And then as people get film, as things get going into the Big Ten and into the grind, sometimes you can play a little older and sometimes you’re going to be a freshman.
“Rob is a freshman.”
He sure didn’t play like a freshman when he played a season-high 20 minutes against Marquette. Wilson scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds, but most impressive was his defense. Faced with defending a guard-heavy Marquette line up, Ryan and his staff put Wilson on Marquette point guard Dominic James for stretches, and Wilson handled the assignment well.
But now it’s the defense that’s keeping Wilson off the court. He’s been making too many mistakes and breaking too many defensive rules in practice for the UW coaching staff to put him on the floor for big minutes.
“He’s just going through growing pains on both ends of the court, especially on the defensive end,” UW assistant coach Gary Close said. “This is a tough league to play defensively, especially at his position where he’s playing quick athletes. I just think he needs more time to understand what we’re trying to do and get a little more consistent.”
When he does get playing time recently, he’s been error-prone. Last Saturday against Illinois, Wilson entered the game and was immediately beat by Illini senior guard Trent Meacham for a three.
Wilson was quickly subbed out and sat the rest of the game.
Ryan’s quick hook can be frustrating at times, especially when a player like Wilson is trying to break out of a funk.
“It’s frustrating but it’s also I have to be mentally sound,” Wilson said. “I’m letting something that shouldn’t happen, that will make me sit. If I don’t let it happen, I’d be out there.”
Few know about what Wilson’s going through better than Jon Leuer. As a freshman last season, the UW forward played double-digit minutes in 13 of the first 18 games of the season. But after exploding for 25 points against Michigan in his first-career Big Ten game, Leuer’s productivity slipped.
The secret was out and teams gameplanned ways to take away Leuer’s strengths and force him to his weaknesses. He scored seven against Iowa three days after the Michigan game, but then just two against Penn State. Of Wisconsin’s final 18 games, he would go scoreless in 14 of them.
That’s all to say Leuer knows plenty well what Wilson is going through.
“The second semester starts up and you’re back in school,” Leuer said. “You don’t have as much free time and you’ve got to stay on top of things. … It’s something you have to go through, and you learn with experience. There’s no way to prepare for it.”
That may be. But if he can wrap his mind around the concepts he needs to, Wilson could provide a good, athletic lift to a UW team that desperately needs a shot in the arm.
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Game Facts
Who: Wisconsin at Northwestern
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Ill.
TV/Radio: Big Ten Network/Wisconsin Radio Network
Probable lineups: UW — Landry, Krabbenhoft, Nankivil (forwards); Bohannon, Hughes (guards)
NU — Kevin Coble, John Shurna (forwards); Kyle Rowley (center); Craig Moore, Michael Thompson
Hot shots: The last time UW and Northwestern met, the Badgers had their best defensive game of the season. Northwestern shot just 31.4 percent from the field and ended up scoring just .76 points per possession.
But since then, the Wildcats have found their shots. Northwestern has shot better than 40 percent in four straight games entering Saturday. With how the Badgers have been playing defense, that could mean trouble for UW.