Of Note: 2019-20 and 2020-21 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recipient (maintaining perfect 4.0 GPA)
... 2020 and 2021 Academic All-Big Ten ... named the 2020-21 Athletic Board Scholar for having the highest cumulative grade point average on the team
2020-21: Medical non-counter
2019-20: Did not play
2018-19: Redshirt season
High School: Averaged 22.6 points, 13.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game as a senior ... finalist for 2018 Miss Minnesota Basketball ... averaged 27.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per game as a junior before missing the second half of the season with a torn ACL ... earned six high school letters for coach Craig Walker, playing up as a seventh and eighth grader, earning honorable mention all-conference honors as an eighth grader ... four-star recruit by Prospect Nation, ranked as the No. 87 signee ... ranked 69
th by Blue Star Report ... also played for North Tartan AAU Club under coach Gerard Coury ... one of just three North Tartan players to be moved up to the top team as a freshman ... North Tartan earned three state championships and finished eighth at the 2016 Nike Nationals ... also played three years of volleyball, earning two team Best Offensive Player awards ... 4.0 student and a National AP Scholar and academic all-conference selection
Personal: Parents are Ron and Michelle Backes ... father competed in track at the University of Minnesota from 1983-86 and was a 1992 U.S. Olympian in Barcelona ... mother played college basketball ... has a younger brother, Beau, who is competing in track and field at Liberty University ... born Sept. 28 ... majoring in health promotion and health equity
Why Wisconsin?
"I chose Wisconsin because I wanted to play in a competitive conference like the Big Ten for coaches that I trust will care about me as a player and a person. I also fell in love with the campus and the opportunities here to develop as an athlete and a student."
What do you love most about being a Badger?
"I really love all the resources we have to better ourselves as people and as athlete. Wisconsin provides amazing opportunities to explore the world."
