Introduction
Bronson Koenig (born November 13, 1994) is a basketball player for the Wisconsin Badgers. Koenig attended Aquinas High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
High school career
Koenig attended Aquinas High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin. As a sophomore, Koenig averaged 17 points and 3 assists per game. He was named First Team All-State after leading Aquinas to the 2010 Division III State Championship. He missed much of his junior season due to an injury. In his senior campaign, he again led his team to a state title and was named Wisconsin Player of the Year by the Associated Press. Koenig scored 16 points in the title game. He averaged 17.0 points and 4.4 assists per game as a senior, shooting 45.5 percent from beyond the arc. Koenig was a McDonald's All American nominee.
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronson Koenig PG | La Crosse, WI | Aquinas | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Sep 24, 2011 | |
Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 78 | ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: | ||||||
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College career
Koenig was moved into the Badgers starting lineup during the 2014–15 season after an injury to point guard Traevon Jackson on January 11, 2015. He averaged 11.6 points per game as a starting guard.
In the second round of the 2016 NCAA Basketball Tournament against the Xavier Musketeers, Koenig made a game-tying three-pointer with 11.7 seconds left. Then, after a Xavier offensive foul, he made another three-pointer at the buzzer to give Wisconsin a 66-63 victory. Koenig finished the game with 20 points. After the win, he said, “I like to have the ball in my hands in those kinds of situations because I believe in myself.”
College statistics
| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013–14 | Wisconsin | 37 | 0 | 15.5 | .443 | .328 | .750 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 3.5 |
| 2014–15 | Wisconsin | 40 | 24 | 28.8 | .414 | .405 | .812 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 8.7 |
| 2015–16 | Wisconsin | 35 | 35 | 34.9 | .392 | .390 | .763 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 13.1 |
| Career | 112 | 59 | 26.3 | .407 | .386 | .782 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 8.4 |
Personal life
Koenig is the son of Paul Koenig and Ethel Funmaker. He is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, one of 42 Division 1 NCAA basketball players who identify as Native American. He is opposed to using Indian names as mascots, and is particularly against the Washington Redskins team name. In the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament, after hitting the game winning shot against Xavier, Koenig said in an interview "That was for all my natives." In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Koenig stated, "With the mascots and all that stuff I think people think its OK to make fun of us...I feel like sometimes we are the lowest of the low among the minorities...and when a Native American kid sees that growing up and see disrespect, it lowers their self-esteem and puts them in a lower place in society."