MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's basketball team finished out the calendar year with a 76-53 win over Detroit Mercy at the Kohl Center on Sunday.

The Badgers (10-3 overall, 0-2 Big Ten) were led by Nolan Winter, who finished with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds for his second-career double-double.

Wisconsin's early lead ballooned to double digits after a 14-0 run late in the first half, with Steven Crowl scoring seven straight points on his own.

The lead reached 20+ points in the second half, after John Blackwell and Kamari McGee each converted an and-one during a 15-2 run by the Badgers.

Crowl and Winter led the team in scoring for the second-consecutive game. Crowl finished 7-for-10 from the floor en route to his 15 points.

Blackwell pitched in 12 points, six rebounds, and five assists in the winning effort.

The Badgers dominated in the paint all game, outscoring the Titans, 36-to-14, down low. Detroit Mercy finished just 18-for-58 (31.0%) on two-point field goal attempts. The Badgers recorded a season-high six blocks in the game, with three swats from Jack Janicki alone.

Orlando Lovejoy and Grant Gondrezick II accounted for 40 of Detroit Mercy's 53 points.

Wisconsin made its first 16 free throw attempts, finishing an efficient 17-for-19 from the line overall.

Quotable

Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard (opening statement):
"I thought we did a lot of good things and it was good to be able to play and go really deep in the bench for some pretty substantial minutes. I think that will help not only those individuals but is collectively going forward."

Senior Steven Crowl (on utilizing his playing time):
"I just think for those minutes, however you space them out, those minutes that [Coach Gard] has me in there I know I have to go hard and play hard and take advantage of those minutes that I'm in there."

Sophomore Nolan Winter (on his physicality):
"I'm going to be as aggressive as I can. Some days the ball bounces your way like today and some days it doesn't. I think me and Steve (Crowl) both want to be physical every time knowing that we are kinda the big guys for this team..."

Up Next

The Badgers resume conference play with a game against Iowa at the Kohl Center on Friday, January 3. Tip is set for 6 p.m. (CT) on FS1.