"Grand" night for Landry
February 11, 2009 | Men's Basketball
To most college basketball players, a fade-away jump shot is just part of the game. For Marcus Landry, it will be a shot he will never forget.
Landry became the 33rd Wisconsin Badger, and seventh under head coach Bo Ryan, to break the 1,000-point plateau against Iowa on Wednesday night.
'To be mentioned in the same breath as some of the guys who have scored 1,000 points really means a lot,' Landry said. 'Personally, I'm glad that it is over so that we can move forward and focus on winning some more basketball games this season.'
By the end of the first half, most Badger fans thought that they were going to have to wait until Saturday to witness a milestone. Landry went 0-2 during the opening 20 minutes, but made up for the lack of scoring with a nine-point second-half performance.
For a player who has only scored over 20 points a total of three times during his tenure at Wisconsin, Marcus Landry has been one of the program's most consistent players of the last decade.
'He just goes out there and does his business,' Joe Krabbenhoft said about his teammate. 'It's all about the team and they way he's been helping us, I'm just so proud of him. He's been one of my best friends since we've got here and to reach that milestone is great, but he 's the first one to say it's all about the team.'
In the first game of the his freshman season wearing cardinal and white, Landry went 5-7 from the floor en route to scoring 11 points and grabbing six rebounds. Since then, the Milwaukee native has averaged 8.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and has shot 49-percent from the field.
In his senior season, Landry has put up higher numbers than his averages. Twenty-four games in, he's shooting 50 percent, scoring over 12.5 points and has grabbing over four rebounds per game.
'He just, he's Marcus,' Coach Ryan said about the senior earlier this week. 'He's worked extremely hard to be a contributor to the point where he's considered to be one of the better players in the league because he does a lot of things and he draws a lot of attention, especially in the post. So the fact that he's nearing that milestone, I'm excited for him.'
As excited as he is about the personal accomplishment, Landry prides himself on his teamwork and leadership. With three Big Ten wins in a row, the team will look to Landry 's consistency as March rolls around.
