8/24/2020 basketball Edit

Wisconsin targets 2021 shooting guard Lucas Taylor

Jon McNamara • BadgerBlitz

Editor

Jon McNamara is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has covered UW athletics since 2002 and has worked at Rivals.com since 2006.

Two days after James Graham III's commitment to Maryland last week, Greg Gard sent out another offer to a prospect in the 2021 class.

Lucas Taylor, a 6-foot-6, 185-pound shooting guard from Heritage High School in North Carolina, picked up a scholarship from the Badgers on Friday. UW is still trying to add a fourth piece to a recruiting class than currently includes Matthew Mors, Chucky Hepburn and Chris Hodges.

Wisconsin offered 2021 shooting guard Lucas Taylor last week.

"Coach (Dean) Oliver followed me on Twitter before," Taylor told BadgerBlitz.com. "We had a Zoom call on Friday where they showed me the campus and everything like that.

"Wisconsin likes my shooting ability and my size. They also like that I'm able to score on all three levels, along with my length on defense."

Wisconsin is making a late run at Taylor, who currently holds offers from Arizona State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Xavier, among others.

"I’m taking my time with the process, so Wisconsin is not late for me at all," Taylor said. "I feel really good about the offer. They are a proven program and their coach has been there a long time.

"The way they compete every year stands out to me and I love the player development. Plus the area."

Taylor, who averaged 21.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game as a junior, declined to talk about any leaders in his recruitment.

"I'm not too sure about a decision but I'm looking at October or November," he said. "But if I’m not ready, I'll wait. Relationships are the biggest thing for me."

From Rivals.com recruiting analyst Eric Bossi:

"I had the opportunity to see Taylor play during the winter and I was impressed by his size, long and lean frame and functional athleticism. He also looked to be a good shooter with some versatility and feel for the game.

"Diving into some film, he showed some sneaky ability off of the bounce along with patience and feel for decision making on the offensive end. He's got a great frame to grow into, is generally aware on the defensive end and I feel his shooting, size and IQ would have attracted quite a bit more attention than he's already getting had coaches been able to watch during April."