Wisconsin gives the huge Nolan Winter injury update fans have been wanting to hear

Despite the Badgers' 78-45 blowout win against Maryland, Wisconsin was left holding their breath after forward Nolan Winter needed help getting off of the court.

Winter went down with a lower leg injury with 7:01 remaining as teammates and coaches gathered around him. Eventually, with the help of some assistants, he made his way to the locker room. After the game, head coach Greg Gard didn't have an immediate update on the severity of the injury.

“We’ll know more tomorrow. Early indications, hopefully, we avoided the worst,” Gard said. “We’ll see where everything, with the testing, goes tomorrow, the evaluation goes tomorrow. We’ll know more in 24 hours or so."

The update is in, and it couldn't be better news for Badger fans.

According to Jon Rothstein, Winter will be just day-today with an ankle injury.

Badger fans can breathe a sigh of relief with positive Nolan Winter news

It's great news for Wisconsin, who doesn't have great depth at forward. While Austin Rapp and Aleksas Bieliauskas have played well lately, Winter is arguably one of the most valuable players on the Badgers. He's averaged 13.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game this year on 57% shooting. If Winter does end up missing some time, Wisconsin will likely run a lot more small ball.

“We’ve played different lineups,” Gard said last night. “We’ve played small ball. We did some of that tonight. I think Bieliauskas has gotten better. I think, again, the experience of Will [Garlock] as a true five. So we’ll see where we’re at tomorrow and then just take the best path forward.”

Assuming Winter is healthy enough for the Big Ten Tournament and then the NCAA Tournament, Wisconsin should still be right on track for a nice run. Even if Winter misses the season finale against Purdue, the Badgers have to feel more than thankful that his injury won't linger into the postseason.