A look at Frank Kaminsky's most memorable moments as the Wisconsin Badgers prepare to retire his jersey

The Wisconsin Badgers will retire Frank Kaminsky's No. 44 jersey before their game against the Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday night, celebrating a career that included two appearances in the Final Four.

Here's a look at some of the more memorable installments of Kaminsky's career as a Badger:

Down goes Kentucky

This is the game for which Kaminsky (and Sam Dekker, for that matter) will always be remembered. The Badgers’ 71-64 win over previously-undefeated Kentucky in the 2015 national semifinal is the staple of the Kaminsky-Dekker era in Madison. Kaminsky shot 7 of 11 against the Wildcats, for a team-best 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Raising Arizona

Kaminsky’s tip shot with 1:06 left in overtime marked the winning points, and Wisconsin held on for a 64-63 victory over Arizona in the 2014 Elite Eight on March 29, a win that put the Badgers into the Final Four for the first time in Bo Ryan’s tenure. That particular shot may not register in the long-term memory banks, but Kaminsky finished the game with 28 points, 11 rebounds and a permanent place in Badgers lore. When the Badgers lost to Kentucky in the Final Four, Kaminsky vowed he would come back for his senior season to finish what he started.

"I made a commitment to the school and I don’t think I can turn my back on the people who have been there for me," Kaminsky said at the time.

There's pretty much no better way to endear yourself to a fan base than to defer making money in the NBA to come back for one more run.

The 43-point game

Nobody saw this coming, and nobody could have known that we were just seeing the start of the Kaminsky Experience. He came into the Nov. 19, 2013, battle against North Dakota with a career high of 19 points, but he caught fire and set a new Wisconsin single-game scoring record with 43 points. The performance included 16 for 18 shooting from the field and 6 of 6 shooting at the free-throw line in the 103-85 victory. Kaminsky had averaged fewer than 5 points per game as a sophomore before his surge as a junior began.

The alley and the oop

When the Badgers clashed with the Golden Eagles for their annual tete-a-tete on Dec. 7, 2013, Kaminsky took an alley-oop pass from Dekker and returned the favor with his own toss up for a Dekker slam. The two are inextricably linked during their playing days in Madison, so it’s only right that they should be glued together in this highlight, which also happens to feature a top rivalry win.

Sidebar: there is a Badger named Kaminsky

Let's pause for a minute to remind you that the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison has a glorious Badger named Kaminsky (and named another one Dekker). 

Koenig!

Kaminsky’s Badgers allegiance didn’t stop when he graduated. He memorably celebrated wildly when Bronson Koenig hit a heart-stopping 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Xavier in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Kaminsky, then with the Charlotte Hornets, reacted in a way that went viral.

Tweet tweet

Kaminsky, always one to show off his personality during his days at Wisconsin, has been a pretty colorful character on Twitter, as well, especially since he graduated. He once engaged with television analyst Dan Dakich in a heated back-and-forth when Dakich criticized Nigel Hayes for portraying himself as a “broke college student.”

Kaminsky has had some other memorable tweets, too.