Iowa’s Ellingson to take center stage in Milwaukee

IOWA CITY - Brady Ellingson took the Bradley Center floor in fifth-grade as part of a Small Fries exhibition before a Milwaukee Bucks' game.

Ellingson, a red-shirt freshman guard at Iowa, returned to the famed arena several times after that basketball experience to watch his beloved Bucks as well as Marquette. Thursday, the Sussex, Wis., native will have a supersized experience on that same floor as the Hawkeyes (2-0) face Marquette (1-1) as part of the inaugural Gavitt Games.

The 6-foot-4 Ellingson was one of the better Milwaukee-area preps at Sussex Hamilton High School. Twice he was named his conference's player of the year. He scored 24.8 points a game as a senior and 21.3 points as a junior. He drilled 48 percent of his 3-point attempts as a junior - 86 of 179 - and guided his squad to their first league title since 1979.

So this is a big reunion game for 19-year-old who grew up 15 minutes from the Bradley Center.

'Everybody's asking me for tickets,” he said. 'It will be really cool playing back home against Marquette.”

Ellingson's first year at Iowa was nothing to write home about, however. He arrived on campus in a walking boot with a stress fracture. He had treatments, then surgery and still tried to play. Ellingson played in seven non-conference games but pain remained in his foot. Iowa then shut him down and applied for a medical red-shirt, which he received last spring.

'He never got any traction starting back in June (of 2014) when he showed up here in a boot,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'We tried to get him through and he tried to play and then he broke it. ... It took a long time for him to really be out there on the floor.”

Ellingson contributed on Iowa's scout team last year and earned praise from his veteran teammates. Fully healthy this year, Ellingson already has made an impact.

Against Coppin State, Ellingson hit seven of his eight shots to score 20 points in 17 minutes. Although he's known as an outside shooter, only one basket was a 3-pointer. He also had three rebounds and an assist. Ellingson's all-around game is what people have noticed.

'I don't usually recruit a guy that would be just a shooter,” McCaffery said. 'I want a player who happens to be a shooter. When we evaluated Brady, we needed to know that he could break his man down off a dribble, that he could guard somebody. Yeah, he could make open shots but if that's all you do, then teams will take that away from you.”

But Ellingson's shooting prowess against Coppin State didn't surprise senior point guard Mike Gesell.

'Not a surprise at all,” Gesell said. 'Brady's one of the best shooters I've ever played with. He's just a hard worker, really has a great feel for the game. He just knows where to be at on the court.

'He's a great basketball player that can shoot the ball. He's not just a shooter, a guy that's just looking to shoot 3s the whole time. He can put it on the deck, he can get to the basket, he does a great job of reading screens when they're chasing him, curling him.”

Ellingson has become Iowa's first guard off the bench, a role that he enjoys.

'I do,” he said. 'I know my role. I'm just trying to shoot shots I'm capable of taking and playing good defense.”

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