Wisconsin Badgers making surprise change to starting lineup against Northwestern

MADISON, Wis -- The Wisconsin Badgers had started the same five players in each of their first seven games to start the season.

Greg Gard is snapping that streak ahead of the team's first conference game.

Aleksas Bieliauskas making first career start

Our five for Big Ten play pic.twitter.com/BzN1YVqtSF
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) December 4, 2025

The Badgers have had their mental and physical toughness challenged during their first three games against power-conference opponents -- a stretch in which they went 1-2 with a pair of double-digit losses to BYU and TCU.

Austin Rapp has struggled in both of those losses, missing easy looks on the interior, making defensive errors and failing to impose his will on the glass.

Related: Wisconsin Badgers demanding more from Austin Rapp, freshmen forwards

'We have to bring it out of him," Gard said during a media availability earlier this week. "The water is deeper at this level. He played in a good league but the requirements and expectations we have, we have high aspirations. We do hold people accountable and when you're not doing what you are capable of doing, we have to get better at that."

It appears as though Gard holding Rapp accountable means bringing him off the bench, at least for one game.

Gard has been on Rapp after recent losses to BYU and TCU, games where the sophomore is a combined 1-for-5 from two-point range.

Bieliauskas went 0-for-6 over the last three games but has been an aggressive rebounder off the bench.

Wisconsin with a little lineup shakeup for B1G
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) December 4, 2025

True freshman Aleksas Bieliauskas replaced Rapp in the first unit for Wednesday's contest, marking the Lithuanian forward's first collegiate start.

Bieliauskas is averaging 3.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks across 12.7 minutes per game this season , and he's been a consistent presence on the glass, having pulled in at least four rebounds in six of seven outings.

While Bieliauskas has gone 0-for-6 from the field and 0-for-5 from three-point range across Wisconsin's last three games, his physicality could prove troublesome for Northwestern, a team that ranks dead last in the Big Ten in rebound margin.

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