The Badgers bounced back in a major way for a commanding win in the season opener.
The Wisconsin Badgers defeated the Holy Cross Crusaders 85-61 in the season opener for their first victory of the year, pulling off a commanding win after facing adversity.
Wisconsin started off slow, but pulled back into it to end the first half before outscoring Holy Cross 50-25 in the second half to win by over 20 points.
Here are the team notes and individual notes from the game, courtesy of UW Communications.
Team Notes
- Wisconsin opened the 127th season of men’s basketball and the 10th under head coach Greg Gard with a 85-61 win over Holy Cross.
- Wisconsin won its home opener for the 9th consecutive season and the 26th time in the last 27 years. UW is 9-0 in home openers under Greg Gard.
- During the Gard era, UW has won its 9 home openers by an average margin of 22.7.
- UW is now 8-1 overall in season openers under Gard, only suffering a 65-63 overtime setback vs. Saint Mary’s in South Dakota in 2019.
- Head coach Greg Gard improved his overall record to 187-107 (.636), including a mark of 111-33 (.771) at the Kohl Center.
- Wisconsin moved to 361-70 (.838) – the 11th-best home record in the country among active venues.
- The Badgers went a perfect 16-for-16 from the free throw line, the second-most made FTs without a miss in school history. Monday’s effort was the seventh perfect mark in school history (min. 12 FTAs).
- The Badgers went 11-for-31 from 3-point range. UW connected on 11+ triples in just 2 games last season.
- Wisconsin out-rebounded Holy Cross, 38-21, including 10-3 on the offensive glass. That led to a 13-3 scoring advantage in second-chance points.
- The Badgers enjoyed a 34-16 scoring edge in the paint.
- UW used runs of 18-2 in the first half and 16-0 in the second half to pull away. The Badgers’ 16-0 run spanned 4:10 span in the second half and turned a 39-40 deficit into a 55-40 lead.
Individual Notes
- In his Wisconsin debut, graduate student John Tonje finished with 23 points (3-6 3FGs, 8-8 FTs), adding 5 rebounds and an assist. His 23 points are the most in a Badgers debut since at least 2000.
- Sophomore John Blackwell recorded 16 points (two off his career high), going 2-for-4 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 at the FT line.
- Sophomore Nolan Winter scored a career-high 15 points — all in the second half — going 6-for-6 from the field, including 2-for-2 from long range. Winter’s previous career high was 7 points. Monday was just the second time in his career he has hit multiple 3FGs.
- Senior G Kamari McGee played 28 minutes, his most as a Badger, finishing with 7 points and his UW-high 4 assists. McGee also led the Badgers with a mark of +35 in the +/- category.
- Junior G Isaac Gard scored his first career points with a 3-point basket with 1:14 left in the game.
- Besides Tonje, 6 Badgers made their UW debut Monday night: junior Xavier Amos, redshirt freshman Jack Janicki, and true freshmen Daniel Freitag, Riccardo Greppi, Aidan Konop, and Jack Robison.