The Badgers started off their season unofficially with a win in an exhibition game.
The Wisconsin Badgers defeated the UW-River Falls Falcons 78-62 in an exhibition on Wednesday, setting themselves up for the season opener next week.
It was a game of ups and downs for the Badgers as they continued integrating new faces into the program, but they were able to settle down more later in the second half for a comfortable win.
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 78-62 win over UW-River Falls on Wednesday at the Kohl Center.
- The Badgers improved to 20-0 all-time in exhibition games against the WIAC. Wisconsin earned its 51st-straight exhibition win, dating back to 1992. UW improved to 62-4 all-time in exhibitions. UW owned a big advantage at the free throw line, going 17-for-24 compared to 6-12 for UWRF.
- The Badgers went 11-for-32 from 3-point range. UW knocked down double-digit triples in 7 games in 2023-24.
- Wisconsin finished the game with 7 blocks, topping their high of 5 last season against Minnesota (1/23/24).
- UW turned it over 10 times after ranking 3rd in the Big Ten with 9.9 TOs per game a year ago.
- Wisconsin owned a 43-30 edge in rebounding, including 15-9 on the offensive glass.
- All 17 Badgers saw action Wednesday night with 11 contributing in the scoring column.
- The Badgers’ front court of Crowl, Winter, Amos, Gilmore, and Ilver combined to go 17-for-25 (.680) from the field.
Individual Notes
- In his Kohl Center debut, John Tonje led the Badgers with 15 points, going 8-for-9 from the free throw line. He added 6 rebounds and 2 assists.
- Senior Steven Crowl finished with 14 points, adding 5 rebounds and 3 blocks. Crowl’s career-high for blocks is 3 and he had multiple blocks in a game just twice last season.
- Senior Markus Ilver scored 8 points in 9 minutes. Ilver entered Wednesday’s exhibition with a career-high of 6 points vs. Dayton (11/23/22). Ilver connected on a pair of 3-point FGs (which would match his career high) after hitting a total of 7 triples last season.
- Senior Kamari McGee dished out 6 assists, including 4 in his first 3 minutes of play. McGee’s career high in assists with Wisconsin is 2, which he accomplished 5 times. McGee recorded at least one point, assist, rebound, block, and steal for the first time with Wisconsin.
- Senior Carter Gilmore finished with 9 points, which would surpass his career of 8. He also grabbed 5 boards and went 3-for-3 from 3-point range, marking the first time he has made multiple triples in a game. Gilmore made three 3-pointers all of last year.