Bucks’ Middleton has historic 50-point night

Khris Middleton, Bucks forward (⬆️ UP)

It seems like we keep including Middleton every week as an “up” in the stock report, but then again he keeps on doing something to make us put him here. On Tuesday, Middleton poured in a career-high 51 points in Milwaukee’s win over Washington, his third game with 40+ points but first to come at home. He made 16 of 26 shots, including 7 of 10 from 3, and hit all 12 of his free-throw attempts. Thus, he became the first player in NBA history to have 50+ points in a game, shoot 70% from 3 and make all of his free-throw attempts (min. 10 attempts of each). Middleton is the fifth Bucks player to reach the 50-point plateau (and the 16th time overall in franchise history), but at 28 years and 169 days old, he’s the oldest Milwaukee player to reach that mark (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, at 27 years, 278 days, had the previous mark). Oh, Middleton also had 10 rebounds and six assists.

Eric Bledsoe, Bucks guard (⬆️ UP)

After three straight games of scoring in single digits, Bledsoe accounted for 20 and 34 points in Milwaukee’s two games last week. In Tuesday’s victory over the Wizards, he had his first double-double of the season, tallying 34 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.

George Hill, Bucks guard (⬇️ DOWN)

Stop the presses – Hill made only 2 of 9 3-point attempts last week, including missing all three against Washington, finishing with just two points in that game. Hill still leads the NBA in 3-point percentage at 51.1%. Phew.

Greg Gard, Badgers basketball coach (⬇️ DOWN)

Wisconsin has lost three of its last four games, including blowing a 12-point lead at Iowa on Monday, second-leading scorer Kobe King is AWOL and the Badgers are on the proverbial NCAA tournament bubble with a 12-9 record (5-5 Big Ten). The natives are restless. The season is far from over, but UW will need to improve on its 3-8 record away from home to go dancing. The Badgers also failed to make the NCAAs in 2017-18, Gard’s first full season as head coach. Wisconsin hasn’t missed the NCAA tournament twice in a three-year span since 1995-98 (NIT in 1995-96, NCAA the next season and no postseason in 1997-98).

Luis Urias, Brewers infielder (⬇️ DOWN)

Milwaukee acquired Urias ostensibly to see if he could beat out Orlando Arcia for the starting shortstop position. It’s now a one-man competition as Urias had surgery to repair a broken hand he suffered while playing winter ball in Mexico. With a 6-to-8 week timeframe for a return, his status for opening day is very much in doubt.