MADISON, Wis. - The No. 18 Wisconsin men's basketball team rode a big first half to defeat the Nebraska Cornhuskers at home, 83-55.
Wisconsin went 14-for-31 from 3-point range on route to a 20+ point victory. Five Badgers hit multiple shots from downtown in the game. The Badgers are now 11-1 at home this season.
John Tonje had his second-straight 20-point game, leading the team with 27. John Blackwell added 14 points on 4-for-7 shooting from 3-point. Kamari McGee scored 11 points off the bench, going 4-for-6 from the field.
The Badgers got off to an explosive start, with John Blackwell and John Tonje each scoring eight points to lead the team to a 19-2 start. Nebraska quickly responded with an 11-0 run of its own. Wisconsin built its lead back up, however, with a series of notable plays; including a steal-and-dunk from Jack Janicki, two 3-pointers from Kamari McGee, and a 4-point play from Tonje.
Wisconsin took a 40-28 lead into half and pushed the momentum in the second half, outscoring the Huskers 43-27. Tonje scored 12 points in the second half, throwing down a poster to get the Kohl Center crowd on their feet.
UW's defense held Nebraska to just 34% field goal shooting (21-62), and forced 12 turnovers in the game. The Badgers utilized their extra possessions, outsourcing the Huskers 17-to-3 in points off turnovers.
The Badgers record now sits at 16-4, with a 6-3 mark in conference play.
Notable:
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The Badgers have won 16 of their first 20 games 10 times since 2000, including four such seasons under head coach Greg Gard.
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Wisconsin scored at least 80 points for the 13th time on the season, equaling the third highest such total and the most since posting 13 games of 80+ in 1970-71.
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Sunday matched the 3rd-most triples in a game in school history.
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The Cornhuskers shot just 33.9% from the field, matching the second-lowest mark for a UW opponent this season and the lowest during Big Ten play. UW is 8-1 when holding teams below 40% in a game this season.
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The Badgers held Nebraska to 28 points in the first half, the 4th time in the last 5 games holding their foe below 30 at intermission
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Wisconsin is 8-0 all-time when McGee scores in double figures (7-0 in 2024-25)
Quotable:
Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard (on the game): "I thought defensively, we were locked in and back to trending toward who we need to be and who we have been. But the unselfishness, the willingness to share the ball, having that many assists, on 18 of 30 baskets. Guys off the bench, smaller lineup there in the second half, even with (Carter) Gilmore and (Xaiver) Amos together. I thought we played a pretty complete game other than the run that they made back at us."
John Tonje (on facing Nebraska): "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a familiar logo when I was growing up in Nebraska, but it's just another game to come out here and compete with my brothers. There was a little bit of extra excitement seeing the hometown team."
John Blackwell (on synergy with Nolan Winter): "We just feed off each other's energy. We keep talking to each other throughout the game, telling each other to keep going. We just have fun hooping with each other."
Kamari McGee (on game preparation): "We knew after Tuesday's game we had to step it up defensively. We put 80 on the board but we still lost. We knew that it wasn't our scoring but when we came back to practice we just locked in more than we had been on defense."
Up Next
Wisconsin hits the road to take on Maryland on Wednesday night in College Park, Maryland. Tip is set for 6 p.m. and the game will air live on Big Ten Network.
