EVANSTON, Ill. - The No. 17 Wisconsin men's basketball team came back from a halftime deficit against Northwestern, winning 75-69 at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Saturday. 

The Badger offense exploded in the second half after a slow start, overcoming a Wildcat lead that reached nine points.

John Tonje scored 27 points, his fourth straight game with 20+ points. Carter Gilmore scored a career-high 15 points, all in the second half. Max Klesmit and Nolan Winter rounded out the scoring with 11 and 10 points respectively. 

The Wisconsin 3-ball started off strong in the second half as Gilmore hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to two points. Gilmore later tipped in a second-chance basket, which gave the lead to the Badgers.

That lead was expanded on with a total of eight 3-pointers in the second. Tonje, Klesmit, and Gilmore all scored 10+ points in the second frame, with the Badgers outscoring Northwestern, 50-38 after intermission. 

It was a scrappy start to the game, with Wisconsin getting off to just a 2-for-15 start from the field. With NU leading 12-7, John Tonje got the Badger offense going with 16 straight points. The Wildcats led after the first half, 31-25.

The Badgers outrebounded the Wildcats 38-29, and converted on 18-of-their-21 free throw attempts.

Wisconsin is now 17-5 on the season, and 7-4 in conference play.
 

Notable:

• The Badgers trailed by nine with 14:40 to play (35-44) and rallied to build a lead that reached 11 with 3:33 to play (71-60). The nine -point second-half deficit was the largest the Badgers have overcome in a game this season.

• UW shot 13-for-32 from 3-point range, the 12th time the Badgers have hit double-digit triples (8-3 in such games), matching the highest single-season total in school history.

• Sunday matched the 3rd-most triples in a game in school history.

• Among Big Ten teams, Wisconsin is tied with Illinois and Michigan for the most games with 10+ triples this season

• Dating back to last season, Wisconsin is 29-1 in games when holding foes to 70 or fewer points (12-1 this year).

• After committing nine first half turnovers, Wisconsin gave up the ball only once in the second half. 

• Tonje has hit at least five 3-point FGs in each of the last four games, shooting 21-for-37 from deep over that stretch. He is the first Badger with four consecutive such games since at least 2004-05 and the only player in the Big Ten to do so this season.

• Tonje is the first Badger with four straight games of 20+ points since Johnny Davis did so five times during the 2021-22 season.

 

Up Next 

The Badgers return home to host Indiana on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center. Tip is set for 8 p.m. and tickets are still available on UWBadgers.Com. Fans are encouraged to wear white for UW's annual "White Out" game.