The Badgers had a dominant performance on Sunday, leading to their biggest win yet.
The Wisconsin Badgers blew out the Appalachian State 87-56, putting together their biggest victory yet in commanding fashion on Sunday afternoon.
Wisconsin is now 3-0 and hopes to carry the momentum from these first three wins into their big game against the Arizona Wildcats next Friday and give themselves a chance to upset a top-10 team at home.
Here’s our recap from Wisconsin’s 87-56 win over Appalachian State on Sunday.
First Half
Early on, Wisconsin struggled in the paint and had an overall slow start offensively. This has been a trend this season for the Badgers. What’s also been a trend is long-scoring runs.
Wisconsin went on a 24-0 run at one point and didn’t allow Appalachian State to score for over nine minutes. Wisconsin ended the half up by 16 points, which is the largest lead they’ve had at the half over any team this season.
Some of the standout players included Nolan Winter and John Tonje.
Tonje showed off his ability to facilitate and become a playmaker, which is something we haven’t seen much of yet this season. He had a nice few possessions where he really took over as Wisconsin’s primary scorer and was able to create his own shot well.
Winter continued to be aggressive in the paint and grabbed a couple of nice offensive rebounds to extend the Badgers’ possession. Winter also sank a nice three, showing how versatile of a scorer he has evolved into this season.
Second Half
Wisconsin started off strong in the second half, but Appalachian State didn’t. The Badgers capitalized on this and extended their lead to 30 points with eight minutes remaining. Appalachian State couldn’t make anything from the field, which gave Wisconsin an opportunity to run up the score and make this game a blowout.
Max Klesmit, Xavier Amos, and Steven Crowl all came alive in the second half. Crowl had a few nice plays in the paint to give Wisconsin an easy bucket. He’s improved as a cutter and can be a real threat to opposing defenses when he makes nice moves like that.
Klesmit was aggressive and made some nice running floaters to extend the Badgers lead in the second half. He finished with 12 points in the second half alone, leading to another 15+ point performance on Sunday.
Klesmit and Winter have found a nice connection together offensively, as Klesmit found Winter open in the paint for a nice assist late into the second half.
Xavier Amos also had a nice second-half performance, being more aggressive in the paint and sinking a pair of threes from beyond the arc, leading to 10 points in the period.
Final Thoughts
Wisconsin has found a way to go on long scoring streaks in every single game this season.
So far it has worked out for them, but it will be crucial for them to start out hot against an Arizona Wildcats team that is vastly better than the competition they’ve faced up until this point.
The Badgers have looked solid and have a real chance to upset a top team at home, they just need to stay aggressive in the paint and make sure to start off well offensively to give themselves a chance in that matchup.