Heading into Tuesday night’s match-up, the No. 21 Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team (18-5, 8-4 Big Ten) had not lost to the now 14–9 (5-7 Big Ten) Indiana Hoosiers at the Kohl Center since 1998.
With Wisconsin entering the night at 11-1 on the season on their home court, the Badgers thoroughly embarrassed the Hoosiers en route to a 76-64 victory in a game that was not as close as the final score indicated.
The punches came early and often for the Badgers, who turned their rapid first-half beatdown into a slow, gruesome Hoosier knockout, ensuring they did not snap their 27-year home win streak against Indiana.
Wisconsin knows that to reach its full potential this season, it must combine its dangerous offense with a consistently locked-in defensive approach. In limiting the Hoosiers to 40 % shooting, and only 7-27 from 3-point line, the Badgers continued to make progress defensively. And with 76 points spread throughout the lineup, the Badgers upkept their season-long offensive production, making it an all-around feel-good game.
John Tonje led an even-scoring Wisconsin scoring attack, scoring 15 points on 5-11 shooting, with five rebounds and an assist. Max Klesmit scored 13 points and added six assists and three steals, while Nolan Winter added 12 points and eight rebounds.
And new-fan favorite Carter Gilmore continued his career renaissance with a 10-point, three 3-pointer night off the bench in front of a crowd that chanted MVP for him. Kamari McGee also scored nine points off the bench.
But perhaps more important than any offensive performance was Wisconsin’s will to shut down Indiana big man Oumar Ballo. Ballo feasted on Wisconsin while playing with Arizona last season, and upon Tuesday night’s matchup, the Badgers made sure a repeat performance did not occur.
“We all kind of felt a little bit embarrassed by how we performed [against Ballo last season] and we knew he was going to be a huge part of getting the win tonight and shutting him down and kind of slowing him down as much as we could,” Klesmit said after the game.
“I want to give credit to Nolan, Steve (Crowl), Gilly for banging around in there, Greppi at the end, just being grown men playing Big Ten basketball,” Klesmit continued. “You know, he's massive, he's huge, arms go forever, so it can be maybe a little bit daunting, but I thought our fours and fives did a great job of taking that challenge head on and really digging in defensively, and shutting him down for the most part.”
Ballo finished the game with only four points.
Playing their usual fast-paced basketball and feeding on an energetic Tuesday night crowd, Wisconsin got off to a scorching hot start. Wisconsin had already built a 20-point advantage within the first six minutes, leading the Hoosiers 24-4 behind a blazing combination of physical defense and aggressive, 3-point-averse offense.
Back-to-back 3s from Crowl and Winter started the scoring to make it 6-0 Wisconsin, before Blackwell free throws, a Winter jumper and a Tonje 3-pointer built a 13-2 lead within the first four minutes.
On Wisconsin’s first two possessions following a Hoosier timeout, Klesmit hit 3s to continue Wisconsin’s onslaught. A Tonje fast-break dunk and a Gilmore three later, the Badgers had a sudden 20-point lead.
“Yeah, I thought we set the tone early,” head coach Greg Gard said. “I mentioned before about making 3s early and we moved the scoreboard fast, but I thought we really were dialed in and then we're really making good decisions defensively and we, at times we turned our defense into offense.”
Wisconsin’s early lead came large in part from their continued success from three. Before the Hoosiers even found success from three, the Badgers had hit six of their first seven, leading 29-8. Over their last four games, Wisconsin has averaged 13.5 3s a game and it was clear on Tuesday that the Badgers were eyeing opportunities from beyond the arc.
But as often as the Badgers have built early home leads this season, they have been just as prone to let opponents crawl their way back into games. With blow-out potential on the horizon early, the Hoosiers battled in the first half, not going down easily.
Indiana missed their first five 3s of the half, but connected on their last two and went into the locker room trailing by only twelve, 40-28. Indiana guard Myles Rice, who was questionable coming into the game, willed the Hoosiers in the first half by going 2-2 from the field and 4-5 from the free throw line to score eight points. Bryson Tucker chipped in two 3s, and collectively, the Hoosiers stayed in the ballgame.
But in the second half, Wisconsin didn’t allow Indiana’s chipping away to continue. By attacking Indiana through the paint and continuing to play solid defense, Wisconsin slowly suffocated the Hoosiers.
Winter built on his eight-point first half by scoring on each of the Badgers’ first two possessions in the second half. Strong defensive sets and driving lay-ups by Klesmit, including a 3-point play, strengthened Wisconsin’s lead to 51-32 with 15 minutes, 23 seconds to go.
After three straight Klesmit misses from three, Wisconsin’s offense regained its stride with a McGee three sandwiched between Blackwell’s driving lay-ins. Indiana soon went on a 6-0 run to bring the game within 16 but two minutes later, after a Gilmore three, Wisconsin took a 68-45 lead with 5:00 remaining to effectively end any Hoosier chance at a comeback.
The Hoosiers then ended the game on a 19-8 garbage time run to produce a respectable final score, but fooled no one.
The Badgers, seemingly in stride again, will now begin to prepare for a Saturday afternoon meeting at Iowa.
