The Badgers cruised to another double-digit victory on Saturday.
The Wisconsin Badgers pulled off an 84-69 victory over the USC Trojans on Saturday, marking their seventh straight win as they improved to 15-3 on the season, including 5-2 in conference play.
It was a good game on both ends from the jump for the Badgers, who shot 56 percent from the field, while forcing 16 turnovers for the double-digit win.
John Blackwell led the way with 28 points, marking his third game this season with at least 25 points, while Max Klesmit had 18 points of his own, coming along strong to end the game.
Here are three quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s 84-69 win over the USC Trojans on Saturday.
No points from Tonje, no problem
Usually, when your leading scorer is held without a point, you don’t end up winning games.
But, that wasn’t the case for the Badgers on Saturday, as they not only ended up winning, but put away USC by 15 points in a resounding victory on the road.
Tonje had his lowest output in a Badgers uniform, scoring zero points while playing in just 22 minutes, which was also a season-low.
However, his teammates picked up the slack, as Blackwell led the way with 28 points on 10/16 shooting, converting 8/9 of his twos and 6/7 of his free throws in an efficient performance.
Max Klesmit also had one of his better games in a while with the 18 points, and he was a perfect 5/5 inside the arc.
While Steven Crowl didn’t have the 14+ points that he’s seen in the past six games, he was still efficient, scoring nine points on 3/4 from the field, while Nolan Winter poured in 13 on 6/7 from the field.
Wisconsin’s depth has been on display on several occasions this year and Saturday was another example of that, as all four of the other starters picked up the workload for the Badgers, while Carter Gilmore and Kamari McGee had some big minutes off the bench as well.
Finishing strong
While the Badgers have been on a seven-game winning streak, they’ve faced some adversity, as seen in their 70-68 win over Ohio State on Tuesday.
In that game, the Badgers started strong, jumping out to a 37-20 lead at halftime, but faltered a bit down the stretch on both ends, allowing the Buckeyes to climb back and make it a close game all the way till the final whistle.
That wasn’t the case on Saturday, as the Badgers were steady and finished strong after a good first half that saw them take a 42-27 lead.
Yes, USC also scored 42 points in the period as they shot 57.1 percent from both the field and from three. But, after the Trojans cut the lead to three with about 10 minutes remaining, the Badgers really started to get things going.
Over the final 10:44, Wisconsin went on a 29-13 run, as John Blackwell and Max Klesmit took over, driving to the rack and being efficient inside the arc.
Wisconsin is finding its way into being a complete team and they showed that they could overcome adversity when USC made a comeback on both ends of the court, finishing well on Saturday in a big way on the road.
Efficient from 2
I’ve mentioned it a bit, but the Badgers’ efficiency from two deserves its own section.
For the second straight game, the three wasn’t as efficient for Wisconsin, who shot 9/28 (32.1 percent) from deep in the win.
However, despite that, and despite the fact that the Badgers had nine first-half turnovers, Wisconsin still managed to score 84 points and average 1.254 points per possession.
How did that happen?
Well, Wisconsin shot an incredible 22/27 (81.4 percent) inside the arc, and that came from a number of different sources.
Max Klesmit was a perfect 5/5 from two. John Blackwell went 8/9 from two. Nolan Winter was 5/5 from two. And Steven Crowl was 2/3 from two.
That led the way for the Badgers as they were relentless inside the arc, finishing 11/12 on layups and scoring 38 points in the paint in a major win.
Wisconsin is showing how they can win in multiple ways, even when certain parts of the formula aren’t working. Despite over 50 percent of their field goal attempts coming from three on Saturday, the Badgers still managed to shoot 56 percent from the field, thanks to their excellent efficiency from two. That was the difference in the win.