What stood out from Wisconsin’s win over Montana State on Thursday?
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 improved to 2-0 on the season with a 79-67 win over Montana State. The Badgers have now started the season 2-0 for the 4th time in the last 5 seasons. The Badgers have opened 2-0 or better in 6 of Gard’s 9 full seasons.
- Head coach Greg Gard improved his overall record to 188-107 (.637), including a mark of 112-33 (.772) at the Kohl Center.UW is now 67-22 in regular season, non-conference games under Gard, including a mark of 49-5 at the Kohl Center.
- Wisconsin moved to 362-70 (.838) all time at the Kohl Center – the 11th-best home record in the country among active venues.
- UW is averaging 82.0 ppg on the season, having scored at least 79 points in each of the season’s first two games for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
- The Badgers shot 11-for-22 from 3-point range, giving them double-digit triples in back to-back games to open the season for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
- Wisconsin went 20-for-21 from the free line and is now 36-for-37 on the season from the charity stripe.
- The Badgers made their first 9 free throws of the game, starting the season 25-for-25 before the team’s first miss with 3:10 remaining in the first half.
- Wisconsin has now posted back-to-back games shooting 90% or better from the FT line (min. 12 attempts) for the first time since December of 2014, when it went 17-for-18 (.944) against California on 12/22/14, and 12-for-13 (.923) against Buffalo on 12/28/14.
- UW has out-scored its first 2 opponents 36-to-13 at the free throw line.
- Of the Badgers’ 79 points, all but 4 points were scored at the free throw line, dunks/ layups or from behind the arc.
Individual Notes
- Senior G Max Klesmit scored a season-high 26 points (1 shy of his career high), making a career-high six 3-pointers (6-11 3FGs). He was also 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Klesmit tallied his 11th game with at least 20 points.
- Graduate student John Tonje has now scored double figures in back-to-back games to open his UW career, finishing with 14 points and 4 rebounds.
- Tonje went 8-for-9 from the free throw line and is now 16-for-17 at the charity stripe on the season.
- Sophomore John Blackwell recorded 13 points to go along with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Blackwell is averaging 14.5 ppg this season.
- Senior G Kamari McGee matched his UW high with 11 points, while adding 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 28 minutes (all of which are UW highs).
- Sophomore Nolan Winter tallied 6 points and a career-high 8 rebounds on the night.