Badger Basketball Exit Meetings: Aleksas Bieliauskas was thrown into the fire, how did he respond?

Entering the 2025-26 season, frontcourt depth was a real concern for Badger fans. When Greg Gard turned to a freshman big from Lithuania in his starting five, some fans grew even more concerned. In time, Aleksas Bieliauskas ended up providing serviceable frontcourt minutes, and even became a secret weapon, providing major sparks in major wins for the Badgers.

As the modern era of college basketball goes, however, 2025-26 will end up being the only season for Bieliauskas in Madison, so here are my final thoughts on what turned out to be a short-lived Badger career.

2025-26 stats (20.2 minutes per game)

4.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.6 BPG | 43.1% FG, 34.6% 3-pt, 63.3% FT

2025-26 High

I feel pretty confident that what I felt was Bieliauskas’ peak of the season is widely agreed upon. It was his takeover in Ann Arbor, and I don’t think it’s up for debate. The freshman big had flashed his 3-point shooting in the first few months of the season, particularly when he went 3-for-3 from deep against Marquette, but he took it to another level in the Badgers’ upset win over the Wolverines.

Early on in the contest, it didn’t seem like Wisconsin was going to hang around very long, with Michigan opening an early double-digit lead, and nothing coming easy offensively for the Badgers. That’s when Bieliauskas changed the game entirely.

Dusty May had his bigs giving the Lithuanian center space on the perimeter in order to clog driving lanes, which accounted for some of the early struggles. He wanted Bieliauskas to beat him, not guys like Nick Boyd and John Blackwell. It wasn’t that Michigan didn’t think he could shoot, they just seemed fine living with that result, and Bieliauskas made them pay.

The big man knocked in five triples in the game, providing Wisconsin with a much needed offensive spark against an elite defensive unit. Not only did Bieliauskas hit in timely situations, but he changed the overall complexion of the game. The Michigan bigs, which overwhelmed every team on the Wolverines’ schedule with size on the interior, were forced to close-out on the perimeter, freeing up driving likes which generated easy twos and kick-out threes for the Wisconsin offense.

In the final regular-season affair at Mackey Arena, Bieliauskas nearly matched the effort, connecting on four 3-pointers, but his sudden emergence to hand the eventual national champions their first loss of the season was what fans will remember most in my eyes.

Bieliauskas attempts a 3-pointer at Purdue. — Mar 7, 2026; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Wisconsin Badgers forward Aleksas Bieliauskas (32) attempts a three point shot during the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images | Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images

2025-26 Low

Starting in the frontcourt in arguably the best league in the country is a lot to ask of someone in their first college season, especially when Bieliauskas spent most of his summer on the international circuit and didn’t have a full offseason in Madison. He responded nicely with serviceable minutes all season, but not without limitations.

Looking at the field-goal percentage, 43.1% as a big is a glaring red flag. Granted, the majority of his attempts were from three, which greatly skewed the number in the negative direction. Still, the offensive upside on a nightly basis was fairly limited. He did show some instincts as a passer, dishing out a number of assists from the perimeter, but beyond that, there wasn’t a ton to offer besides 3-point shooting.

Starting alongside Nolan Winter, Bieliauskas was obviously never going to get many touches beyond catch-and-shoot opportunities, but it doesn’t feel unreasonable to say there was a cap on the upside he offered on that end, even with his shooting outbursts in big moments.

Defensively, as is the case with many young big men, he had trouble staying out of foul trouble. Unsurprisingly, the freshman big wasn’t super quick on his feet, and teams attacked that throughout the year. Typically, when a big is blocking less than a shot per game, you’d hope it’s because he’s more sound on the perimeter and guarding ball-screen actions, but that wasn’t necessarily the case.

Overall, Bieliauskas was a serviceable option in the frontcourt, and obviously provided some memorable moments, which are what people will remember, but the overall upside was fairly limited and the flaws were pretty apparent.

Final grade: B

Like I said earlier, a starting role in the Big Ten as a freshman with a shortened offseason is a tall task, and I think Bieliauskas responded well. Sure, he looked like a deer in headlights at times and had a relatively low ceiling, but he did his job for the most part in my opinion. I feel that a lot of the frontcourt issues could be attributed to the group as a whole, and not just pinned on Bieliauskas, which is why I decided not to knock him with this grade.

Would a more polished offensive player or shot-blocker have raised the team’s ceiling in 2025-26? No doubt, but all things considered, arguably the two best wins of the season end up as losses if it wasn’t for Bieliauskas, which led me to assign a grade that reflected positivity on the season.

Beliauskas defends Owen Aquino in the NCAA Tournament. — Mar 19, 2026; Portland, OR, USA; High Point Panthers forward Owen Aquino (8) dribbles against Wisconsin Badgers forward Aleksas Bieliauskas (32) during the first half of a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

What’s next?

There will be no encore to Bieliauskas’ freshman season in Madison, as the big man hit the portal this offseason. He won’t shed his Wisconsin ties that quickly, however, as he’ll be coached by Lamont Paris and Sam Dekker at South Carolina. In the last two seasons, simply put, the Gamecocks have been bad. As Paris looks to right the ship, Bieliauskas is entering a lower stakes role where he looks to expand his game.

No longer playing alongside Winter, he will have the opportunity to play a different offensive role. I think there is long-term upside for Bieliauskas in ball-screen actions. We saw flashes of his playmaking instincts, so I believe that if he can be more of a threat in ball-screen actions, making catches in the short-roll to either use those playmaking instincts or hit a push shot, he can be a lot more impactful for South Carolina.

Regardless, I think Wisconsin fans saw first hand the limitations of his game as a freshman, so it will be interesting to see how the former Badgers on staff in Columbia develop him.

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