NFL
By: Melo Williams
Wisconsin men’s basketball opened up its 2024-2025 season as the 10th season under head coach Greg Gard with a 85-61 win over Holy Cross marking its 9th consecutive season home opener win and the 26th time in the last 27 years. Wisconsin is 9-0 in home openers and 8-1 overall under Greg Gard.
The game was a game of runs starting off early on with Holy Cross but Wisconsin had more impactful runs. The Crusaders jumped out to an early 13-3 lead over Wisconsin.
Wisconsin then went on a 8-0 run, followed by a 10-0 run tying the game at 25 apiece with 5:17 left in the first half.
The Badgers took its first lead of the game 31-30 from a Steven Crowl jumper in the lane with 3:27 left in the first half. Wisconsin used a 18-2 run in the first half, going into the intermission trailing by one point 36-35.
After halftime both teams traded buckets then Wisconsin went on a 16-0 run kicked off by a John Tonje three-pointer and dunk, then John Blackwell (5), Max Klesmit (3), and Carter Gilmore (3) contributed 11 points in the 16-0 run, turning a 39-40 deficit into a 55-40 lead.
That’s when Nolan Winter finished the Crusaders off scoring his final 13 Pts in the last 5:47 of the game, and then Badgers head coach Greg Gard’s son, Isaac Gard put the cherry on the top swishing a three-pointer, his first career points in front of Wisconsin’s bench, who jumped up and down in major excitement after Gard made the three-point shot.
After the game speaking with the media Greg Gard said “I like how we responded and battled back, grew defensively as the game went on, and I think wore them (Holy Cross) down significantly.”
“We have a long ways to go but I like the response when things weren’t going well early.”
By The Numbers:
In his Wisconsin debut, John Tonje finished with 23 Pts (3-6 3FGs, 8-8 FTs), 5 Rebs, and 1 Ast. Tonje’s 23 points are the most in a Badgers debut since Devin Harris 20 Pts vs. UNLV (11/17/01).
Big Ten All-Freshman Team honoree, Sophomore John Blackwell scored 16 Pts, just two points shy of his career-high (18). Blackwell went 2-4 from the three and knocked down all four of his free throws.
When Blackwell wasn’t scoring he impacted the game with his stingy defense changing the momentum of the game midway through the first half. Blackwell finished the game with a steal, overall his defense forced the Crusaders into turnovers and bad shots.
Sophomore Nolan Winter finished the deal for the Badgers scoring a career-high 15 Pts, all in the second half, going 6-6 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point range, the second time in his career he has multiple three-pointers.
Winter’s previous career-high was 7 Pts. Winter also finished with 4 Rebs, 2 Asts, and 1 Blk. Nolan showed his abilities to score at all three-levels, but his back to the basket spin baseline finishing at the rim for an and-one was the highlight.
Coach Gard said after the game that Winter played terrific and “is starting to come into his own a little bit.”
Senior Kamari McGee played 28 minutes finishing with 7 Pts, 2 Rebs, 4 Asts his UW-high, and 1 Stl. Holy Cross was up 13-3 when McGee entered the game with 16:43 left in the first half.
That’s when the Badgers offense and defense settled down as McGee orchestrated the offense and turned up the defensive pressure with his aggressive on-ball defense.
Greg Gard said that Kamari McGee is good because he’s built low to the ground. “He’s quick, physical, and can get up and get under guys.” McGee finished the game with a +35 in the +/- category.
Besides Tonje, 6 Badgers made their UW debut Monday night, junior Xavier Amos (2 Pts, 4 Rebs), red-shirt freshman Jack Janicki, and true freshman Daniel Freitag, Riccardo Greppi, Aidan Konop, and Jack Robison.
NEXT UP: 11/7/24 Home vs Montana State at 7 PM.
