MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin men's basketball team won its fifth-straight game and its third-straight Big Ten Conference contest, taking down rival Minnesota in an 80-59 victory on Friday night at the Kohl Center.

The Wisconsin (13-3, 3-2 Big Ten) offense clicked on all-fronts in the second half, outscoring the Golden Gophers (8-8, 0-5 Big Ten), 50-30 after the break.

Steven Crowl continued his hot-streak with a team-high 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field. John Tonje scored 16 points including 11 in the second half. Kamari McGee in his first career start with Wisconsin scored 15 points and added three steals.

Wisconsin got off to a slow shooting start, but managed to stay ahead of the Gophers at the break by forcing eight first-half turnovers, leading 30-29 at intermission.

Multiple scoring runs helped the Badgers build their lead. An 8-0 run nine minutes into the second half gave Wisconsin a double-digit lead, while a 14-1 run just three minutes later put the Badgers up by 24.

UW went 15-for-26 from the field in the second-half, including an 8-for-15 mark from deep.

The Badger defense pressured the Gophers all night, forcing 15 turnovers in the game. Four Badgers, McGee, John Blackwell, Xavier Amos and Jack Janicki all collected two or more steals.

Wisconsin limited turnovers themselves, giving up the ball only eight times. The team finished with six more assists than turnovers.

Notable:

• Wisconsin has now won 8 straight and 17 of the last 19 games against Minnesota.

• UW's 21-point victory matched its 4th largest over Minnesota in the NCAA tournament era (since 1939).

• Wisconsin shot 11-for-28 (39.3%) from 3-point range, including 8-for-15 in the second half. The Badgers connected on double-digit triples for the ninth time in 16 games this season. UW did that seven times all of last season.

• Wisconsin went 19-for-24 (79.2%) from the free throw line. UW leads the NCAA shooting 85.1% (291- for-342) from the FT line. The Badgers are averaging 18.2 made FTs per game, which ranks 19th in the nation.

• Senior G Kamari McGee made his first career start with Wisconsin and finished with 15 points, his highest output as a Badger. He also added five rebounds, two assists and three steals, while playing a UW-high 33 minutes. McGee went 3-for-4 from 3-point range on Friday night and is now shooting 57.6% (19-33) on the season from three-point land. 

• Wisconsin improved to 13-3 on the season and 3-2 in the Big Ten following a 80-59 win over Minnesota on Friday. The Badgers have now won 5 straight, including 3 in a row in conference play. This marks the 4th-straight season UW has put together a Big Ten win streak of 3 games or longer
   

Quotable:

Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard (on Crowl's performance): "Steve was a grown man. And we've seen it since the Butler game. He understands how good he can be when he's aggressive and he's been assertive and dominant in his own way. I'm happy for him because he's been committed to this place and worked really hard."

John Tonje (on earning a win against a rival): "I think this game in particular has a little bit of extra energy to it. It just adds excitement and competitiveness in a game like this. So, it was good to come out here and get a win."

Senior Steven Crowl (on team's interior presence): "Our teammates and our coaches have talked to specifically me and Nolan on being more of a presence at the rim…it's our pain and we own that pain. When you have two 7-footers out there, there shouldn't be much going on in the paint. I credit my teammates and my coaches, and they've been on us constantly about it and it's been working."

Senior Kamari McGee (on the team's depth): "It helps because they can't just key-in on just one guy, and that's what special about our team is that we have a lot of weapons. We are a pretty deep team, so you never know who can go off."

Up Next:

UW closes out its two-game homestand on Tuesday night against Ohio State at the Kohl Center. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and tickets still are available on UWBadgers.Com. Fans that can't make it to Madison can watch it live on Peacock.