The Badgers fended off a feisty opponent to improve to 2-0.
The Wisconsin Badgers pulled off a 79-67 victory over the Montana State Bobcats on Thursday, improving to 2-0 on the season.
After an 85-61 victory over Holy Cross in the opener, the Badgers had a more competitive game, but a second-half run kept the score at double digits for much of the final period, even as Montana State tried to make a last-minute push.
Here’s our recap of Wisconsin’s 79-67 win over Montana State on Thursday.
1st Half
Starting Five: John Blackwell, Max Klesmit, John Tonje, Nolan Winter, and Steven Crowl
The Badgers were in an absolute battle against Bobcats in the first half, going into halftime with a 39-33 lead.
The focus for the Badgers early was getting the ball inside and getting quality shots. But, they weren’t as efficient inside the arc (6/16 shooting), while the Bobcats did just enough to remain competitive before Wisconsin had a last-second push to amp up their lead to six at the half.
John Tonje and Max Klesmit tied for a team-high 11 points at the break, with Klesmit hitting 3 threes that sparked the Badgers offense when they needed some momentum.
Head coach Gard tried numerous different rotations once again, getting Carter Gilmore and Kamari McGee in early for Nolan Winter and Tonje, respectively. McGee did a great job of spreading the ball around and being a true point guard, with few bad decisions throughout the half.
For the Bobcats, the threes were raining in, hitting a total of seven threes on 17 attempts while the Badgers went 5/10 in the first half. The barrage of threes as well as an early rebounding advantage kept the Bobcats in the game in an exciting first 20 minutes.
The Badgers were focused on the high screen action to get center Steven Crowl cutting to the basket with a little more momentum, making it harder for the rotating defender to come in without leaving an open corner three.
Going into the second half, the Badgers’ focus should be to continue to work inside and draw double teams as we saw to end the second half, with guard John Blackwell absorbing a double team on a drive, hitting a wide-open Nolan Winter for a lane-cutting dunk.
A key player for the Badgers who really did a lot of the dirty work is Carter Gilmore. Gilmore hustled all over the court, coming up with rebounds and one crucial block on a fastbreak.
Wisconsin deployed a nine-man rotation, with Gilmore and McGee being the first off the bench, while Xavier Amos and Jack Janicki came in as well. It was more of the starters though on Thursday, even with Steven Crowl in foul trouble, as Max Klesmit had a heavy load in the first half.
Second Half
Wisconsin started off the second half hot, going on an 8-0 run after an early Montana State three, with Max Klesmit staying hot, hitting a pair of triples. That gave Wisconsin an 11-point lead, and the Badgers never looked back.
Moments later, Wisconsin went on another 7-2 run, upping their lead to 14 points, with John Blackwell leading the charge here, hitting a layup, as well as a corner three that bumped it up to 56-42 in the Badgers favor.
From there, Montana State could never really cut it to single digits, as the Badgers had another mini-run to extend their lead to 17 before a cold spell hit them offensively.
Wisconsin scored just four points over a second-minute stretch in the second half (11:18 to 4:54), but they held up well enough defensively that their lead remained at 14 going into the final five minutes of the half.
After a Kamari McGee three, the Bobcats tried making a late push, hitting a number of three-point jumpers, but the lead still never cut to within single digits, as Wisconsin held on for a 79-67 victory to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Klesmit was the star of the show, hitting a career-high six threes and scoring 26 points in this one while going a perfect 6/6 from the free-throw line. After a slow start in Wisconsin’s first two games, the senior embraced a big workload and stayed active through 36 minutes of action in a big way.
John Tonje was the team’s second-leading scorer at 13 points, with much of his damage coming in the first half. It was a different outlook for Tonje, who looked to attack more often than not, leading to a team-high nine free throws, of which he made eight.
John Blackwell had 13 points as well, with the five-point run in the second half propelling his night. The guard shot just 4/13 from the field, but was 2/6 from deep. He’s still looking to find his spots and create that balance between facilitating and scoring as Wisconsin’s lead guard, but the team likes his aggressiveness and shots should start to fall.
The sparkplug off the bench was Kamari McGee yet again, who settled in to score 11 points on 5/7 from the field. He also had three rebounds and three assists without a turnover, which was crucial for Wisconsin in his 28 minutes of action.
With Steven Crowl in foul trouble, it was a quieter night for the Badgers big man, as he played just 24 minutes and had only six points on the night, with the perimeter guys taking more of the spotlight.
Nolan Winter also played just six minutes in the second half after a big workload in the first half, with Wisconsin going smaller and playing either McGee or Carter Gilmore more over the final period.
Wisconsin gets back into the action on Sunday morning, facing off against Appalachian State at the Kohl Center, with tip-off scheduled for 11:00 a.m.