Badgers: Johnny Davis says plan is to play Friday in Big Ten tourney

Expect to see Johnny Davis when Wisconsin opens the Big Ten Tournament on Friday against Maryland or Michigan State.

The star guard met the media Wednesday for the first time since sustaining a lower body injury in the Badgers loss to Nebraska on Sunday.

“The plan is to see how (Thursday goes) and Friday goes but, yeah, the plan is to play and be there for my team,” Davis said.

The Big Ten Player of the Year is nursing a sprained ankle and it’s limited him in practice this week. The sophomore said it is a different injury than the one he suffered prior to the win over Purdue last Tuesday. He called that a bone bruise on his heel, something he played through on the way to the Badgers clinching a share of the Big Ten title.

As for the play he got hurt on — when he got tripped, stumbled and then landed awkwardly after attempting a layup with Nebraska’s Trey McGowens elbowing him in the face — he remains upset about it.

“At first I thought I tripped on my own feet but then I saw McGowens was behind me and clipped my heel. I don’t know if that was intentional or not but bringing the elbow down that was a very dirty and uncalled for play,” Davis said. “When you play against a team with nothing to lose like that, that stuff tends to happen. I’m fine from it, it’s in the past, but like I said, it was very uncalled for. There’s no need for that in the sport of basketball.”

McGowens was handed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected.