The Badgers took off from the opening tip-off and never looked back on Tuesday.
Coming off a disappointing overtime loss, the Wisconsin Badgers bounced back in a big way, blowing out the Washington Huskies 88-62 at the Kohl Center on Tuesday.
After a slow start over the first three minutes, the Badgers took off and never looked back, expanding their lead to 15 at the half before ultimately winning by 26 in a much-needed victory.
With the win, Wisconsin improved to 22-6 on the season and 12-5 in conference play, temporarily jumping the Maryland Terrapins for third place in the Big Ten.
Here are three quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s 88-62 win over the Washington Huskies on Tuesday.
John Blackwell resurgence
Over the second half of the season, the Badgers have seen some major success off the back of John Tonje, who has empowered himself in the Big Ten Player of the Year and All-American conversation.
Well, on Tuesday, it was the John Blackwell show, as the sophomore had 19 points in the first half alone, finishing the game with 24 on 9/16 from the field and 4/7 from deep.
With the game close at 20-15 in Wisconsin’s favor midway through the first half, Blackwell took off, scoring 13 of the Badgers’ next 15 points to expand the lead to 35-22, hitting three triples and another jumper, while getting to the rack as well for an onslaught of scoring.
The guard finished the half strong as well, hitting Wisconsin’s last two shots, including a buzzer-beater to give the Badgers a 43-28 lead at the half.
After last game’s meltdown, Wisconsin needed to come out and set the tone early on Tuesday, and Blackwell did exactly that with arguably his best first half of the year.
It was the first time Blackwell cracked the 20-point mark since late January in a loss to UCLA. It was much-needed on Tuesday and a big part of Wisconsin’s win.
Bench points
While the starters did their part in setting the tone, Wisconsin didn’t have any lulls on Tuesday, thanks to a strong overall performance from the bench.
The Badgers had an astounding 33 bench points against Washington, as Xavier Amos and Jack Janicki led the way with 12 and eight, respectively.
Amos came into the year with high expectations but had a little bit more of an adjustment figuring out his role on this Badgers team. Well, he’s seemed to settle in and become more confident, which is vital down the stretch as he gets minutes in the rotation.
The forward had back-to-back threes, hitting three for the game en route to a season-high 12 points and a whopping +23 in 15 minutes of action.
Janicki went 3/4 from the field in his 19 minutes, being a +17 on the court, as he filled up the stat sheet with four rebounds, two assists, and two steals, doing whatever the team needed him to do.
Kamari McGee had eight points as well, filling in as a starter in the second half as Max Klesmit dealt with an injury, attacking the rim to get his baskets, while not turning the ball over once in 23 minutes of action.
Overall, the bench showed up in a big way on Tuesday, complementing the bench well and keeping the pace up for Wisconsin, rather than allowing for any ebbs to occur.
Limiting Osobor
With Washington’s limited team success this season, the gameplan defensively had to surrounded around limiting star forward Great Osobor. And Wisconsin did exactly that on Tuesday.
Osobor was limited to just 11 points on 4/10 from the field, hitting only 1/5 of his threes, while nabbing only two rebounds, despite averaging 8.7 per game. Wisconsin forced four turnovers against Osobor alone and they were opportunistic, scoring 14 total points off turnovers in the game.
Without Osobor’s scoring, no one could really step up for the Huskies, as Washington didn’t have any other player reach double-digits, being limited to under a point per possession.
The Badgers needed to win the rebounding battle on Tuesday, and they did in a big way, hauling in 41 total rebounds, including 13 on the offensive side of the ball.
It was a collective effort, with Nolan Winter getting three offensive rebounds and seven for the game, while John Blackwell had a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Overall, the Badgers needed to limit Osobor and successfully did that, leading to an overall strong defensive performance.