Reaching No. 16 in the latest AP Poll, it’s safe to say the Wisconsin men’s basketball team’s season has been successful.
With a 19-5 record, the Badgers are well on their way to achieving their fourth straight 20-win season. While the team has not struggled on defense, the key to their winning ways this season is in their prolific offense.
In particular, the emergence of Wisconsin’s two lead guards, John Tonje and John Blackwell, have driven the offensive success.
Tonje has been extremely effective behind the 3-point arc and at the free-throw line. After the most recent matchup against Iowa, Tonje’s 3-point percentage stands at 40.2%. His free throw percentage is 91.7%, good enough for second in the Big Ten and eighth in the entire country.
Tonje also leads the team in scoring with 18.6 points per game. This puts him at seventh in scoring in the Big Ten, and just inside the top 50 nationally, at 49th in Division I.
Blackwell has taken a leap from his freshman to sophomore year, with his points per game nearly doubling, rising from 8.0 last season to 15.3 this season. His 3-point percentage has dipped, but his overall efficiency from his freshman campaign has increased, showing that Blackwell can get it done from anywhere on the court. His free throw percentage sits at 81.2%, which places him 12th in the Big Ten.
But two players cannot win games all on their own, so where has the rest of the production been coming from? Wisconsin’s bench has been stellar throughout the year, especially with the breakout of Kamari McGee and the development of Carter Gilmore.
The improvement in McGee’s play was unexpected this season, as he had been a low-minute bench player in his first two years in Madison. McGee shot 27.3% from 3-point range last season and 18.5% from three in his first year with the Badgers.
Yet this season, McGee is shooting 55.4% from long distance. That number makes him the Big Ten leader in 3-point-percentage and would be the Division I leader if qualified. McGee is also a reliable ball handler and ranks seventh in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Gilmore may not be putting up massive totals, but he has stepped up as of late. During the win at Northwestern, Gilmore went 3-for-5 from deep, and 5-for-7 overall, in a game with a seven-point differential. His 15 points scored set a new career-high.
On the season, Gilmore has knocked down 16 of his 36 attempts from 3-point range, which puts him at 44.4%. Just like McGee, Gilmore was not known for his shooting ability prior to this year, with his former season-best percentage being 25.0% in the 2023-24 campaign.
Clearly, the Badgers have several capable 3-point shooters to space the floor, with three rotational players shooting above 40% from three — and Nolan Winter coming in at 39% from three — and two others who have proven their shooting ability in the past in Blackwell and Max Klesmit.
The Badgers are first in the Big Ten in 3-pointers made per game and 21st in the country, with the team hitting 10.2 per contest. The high volume of 3s has kept Wisconsin in games when they might be struggling to score, as shown by their +2.6 differential in 3-pointers made.
The other massive part of the Badgers’ offensive success is their efficiency at the free-throw line. The team is on pace to set the NCAA record for free throw percentage, and they currently are shooting 84.1% from the stripe.
All players who see meaningful minutes help make a difference at the line, with Tonje shooting the best percentage of the team at 91.7%, and five others shooting above 79.0%. All six players attempt at least a free throw per game, so the sample size is there — and has been — all season.
Tonje is first in the conference in free throws made and sixth in the nation in that category. He also is fifth in free throw percentage in the Big Ten, showing that with a large quantity of attempts his ability to drain them has not been affected.
Free throw shooting has been the other main component in winning the Badgers games when they may not be playing well. They own a +11.2% free throw percentage differential to their opponents, fourth in Division I basketball. They make 4.7 more free throws during a game to their opponents, ranking 18th in the country. The numbers might seem small, but they add up when it matters.
As a whole, the offense has clicked all season. Wisconsin is ninth nationally in offensive efficiency in the KenPom ratings, and is putting up 81.0 points per game, good for 36th in the country.
Many of their wins come in dominating fashion, as they are 32nd in Division I in point differential with a +11.0 margin. The non-conference schedule might slightly inflate this number, but Wisconsin has continued to blow teams out even in Big Ten play.
The team has put up over 100 points twice during the season, in wins over No. 9 Arizona and against Iowa, scoring a Kohl Center record 116 points and setting a program record with 21 3s made in the latter. They have finished with a point total in the 60s only twice this year.
If someone is having an off night, the scheme and talent across the roster are enough to overcome an individual's poor performance. As the regular season comes to an end, this should make the Badgers a scary matchup come March Madness.
