NFL
By: Melo Williams
No. 17 Wisconsin improved to 17-5 on the season and 7-4 in the Big Ten following a 75-69 win over Northwestern on Saturday.
The Badgers has won 3 straight over Northwestern, 10 of the last 12 dating back to 2018, including a record of 45-40 in games played at Northwestern, and improves to 125-67 in the all-time series, and 11-5 under Greg Gard against the Wildcats.
Wisconsin now has won 9 of its last 11 games, including 7 of its last 9 Big Ten games, and a 6-4 record on the road. Entering Saturday, Oregon (8) and Michigan State (7) were the only Big Ten teams with more than 6 wins.
Initially things weren’t looking good for Wisconsin as they started the game missing their first 8 shots, while Northwestern went on a 8-0 run led by Jalen Leach who scored the Wildcats first 5 of the 8 points of the game before John Blackwell ended the 8-0 run with a layup.
That sparked a Badgers 7-0 run led by Blackwell 5 points, a layup and 3-pointer, followed by 2 made free throws from Nolan Winter cutting Northwestern lead down to 1, 8-7.
From there it was the John Tonje show. Tonje single-handily took over the Badgers offense scoring 16 straight points. The first 11 of the 16 points gave Wisconsin its first lead at 18-15 with 5:46 left in the first half. The last 5 points kept Wisconsin tied with Northwestern at 23 apiece with 3:49 left in the 1st half.
Northwestern went into halftime with a 31-25 lead. Not bad of a deficit for Wisconsin after committing 9 first half turnovers and John Tonje 16 points, the only Badgers player with more than 5 points.
Max Klesmit came out in the 2nd half looking to get it going offensively for the Badgers. Klesmit scored a quick 5 points, followed by 8 points with 5 coming from Nolan Winter and 3 from Tonje.
Then the Carter Gilmore show started. Gilmore scored 8 of the Badgers next 12 points, two 3’s and a lay-up, followed by 4 points from Max Klesmit tying the game at 50 all.
Gilmore broke the tie giving Wisconsin a 54-52 lead with 9:22 remaining in the game and the Badgers tightened up its defense and never gave up the lead again.
Wisconsin put together a 14-3 run with a 64-55 lead with 5:12 left to play. The Badgers put the Wildcats away in the last 4 mins of the game with 6 points from John Tonje, 2 from Max Klesmit, and 3 from Nolan Winter.
Wisconsin made its final 12 free-throws of the game giving the Badgers the 75-69 victory.
Wisconsin shot 13-22 from 3-point range, the 12 time the Badgers have hit double-digit triples matching the highest single-season total in school history.
Among Big Ten teams, Wisconsin is tied with Illinois and Michigan (12) for the most games with 10+ 3’s this season.
The Badgers converted 18 of their 21 free-throw attempts. Wisconsin is now 17-2 this season when going 75% from the line.
It was a tale of two defenses in two halves. Northwestern defense dominated Wisconsin in the first half forcing Wisconsin into 9 turnovers but Wisconsin only gave up the ball once in the 2nd half.
Wisconsin held Northwestern to 69 points on 25-69 (42%) from the field. Dating back to last season, the Badgers are 29-1 in games when holding opponents to 70 or fewer points, 12-1 this season.
John Tonje finished with 27 points vs Northwestern. Tonje went 8-18 from the field, 5-11 from the 3, and 6-6 from the free-throw line.
Tonje has scored at least 20 points for the 4th-straight game and 8 times this season. Tonje has also scored double figures in 20 of 22 games this season and 15+ points in 15 games.
John Tonje has been dialed in from distance hitting at least 5 3-pointers in each of the last 4 games, shooting 21-37 from deep during that stretch. He’s the first Badger with 4 consecutive games since at least 2004-05 and the only player in the Big Ten to do so this season.
Carter Gilmore scored a career-high 15 points (all in the second half) to go along with 7 rebounds in 24 minutes. Gilmore is shooting 12-30 from 3-point range this season.
In his first 4 seasons, Gilmore shot a combined 9-55 from deep.
Gilmore on his career day:
“That was the biggest thing this offseason, coming on the floor and being more of a threat offensively.”
“My coaches and teammates have been encouraging me to shoot it, giving me all the confidence in the world to go out and shoot it.”
“They found me in all the right spots and once I saw that first one go in, I knew I felt pretty good. So just lucky to see and grateful to see those other ones fall as well.”
Max Klesmit scored 11 points (all in the second half) and grabbed 4 rebounds. Klesmit also went 4-4 from the free-throw line.
Nolan Winter has continued being aggressive and making a difference in the game on both ends of the court. Winter finished with 10 points and 5 rebounds.
Next up for Wisconsin is a Tuesday home game facing the streaky Indiana Hoosiers.
