MADISON, Wis. – Max Klesmit joined the University of Wisconsin prior to the 2022-23 season with a wealth of experience. He played in 50 games at Wofford, including 33 starts and impressed with his ability to shoot, draw fouls, and defend. He planned on bringing that same energy to the Badgers when the Neenah, Wis., native transferred to play closer to home.

He delivered on that; it just took longer than he would have liked. While he couldn’t rescue UW from being relegated to the NIT, his scoring burst set the bar for what Klesmit wants to add now that his feet are firmly planted on the ground.

“It was self-affirmation that he belonged at this level,” head coach Greg Gard said of Klesmit’s closing run. “You saw that more down the stretch. I watched that carry over to the summer because there’s a confidence in how he’s performed.”

When the NCAA ratified the one-time transfer rule in April 2021, it allowed student-athletes the freedom to transfer from one school to another by eliminating the penalty of having to sit out a year. A casualty of that was athletes no longer had an off year to integrate themselves into the school, the team, and the system.

Case in point: Wisconsin needed Klesmit to jump right in with both feet.

He started all 33 games and played the first half of the season having as many games with one or fewer baskets as games in double figures (4). After missing two January games following an inadvertent elbow to the face, both UW losses, Klesmit carried a bigger share of the offense. He scored in double figures in seven of the last 12 games, with three games of at least 18 points, shooting 43.8 percent from the perimeter during that run.

“It was a credit to my teammates telling me to be more confident, more aggressive with the ball, and that they trust me,” Klesmit said. “I am looking to asset myself more in the offseason, do more than just being a screener or a passer for certain things or certain plays.”

That approach was evident in Monday’s season opener. Combining a selective aggressiveness with his new physique (he slimmed down to be quicker), Klesmit was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field for 14 points. He scored off pick-and-roll actions, outside the paint, from the perimeter, and made all three free throws in Wisconsin’s 105-76 victory over Arkansas State, the most points UW has ever scored at the Kohl Center and the most the program has scored in nearly 18 years.

“I like his decision-making,” Gard said. “He’s done a really good job in being patient off ball screens, understanding when to pitch defenders off, when to go to the rim, knows where his teammates are around him, and what we’re doing with spacing. (He) has a good pace about it. Coming off ball screens, most of the time it’s not 100 miles per hour. It’s coming with some pace and reading what’s going on. His ability to make the right decision has been really good.”

While Wisconsin reaps the benefits of Klesmit’s transfer, Friday's opponent hopes for a similar payoff. No.9 Tennessee remade its backcourt by landing Northern Colorado’s Dalton Knecht and USC Upstate’s Jordan Gainey through the portal, giving the ninth-ranked Volunteers guards who can score at all three levels, including attack the rim.

The two were Tennessee’s leading scorers Monday, combining for 31 points on 11-for-20 shooting in an 80-42 victory over Tennessee Tech.

“Number one in the country last year defensively (and) have the look of a lot of the same components,” Gard said of Tennessee. “They’re a really, really good team that is going to be a tremendous test for us (for the) second game of the year.”

It’s the kind of game Klesmit came back to Wisconsin for, not to mention the kind he and his teammates spent all offseason preparing to be successful in.

“You just feel it everywhere. You feel it when you walk in the building, just the demeanor of everybody and everybody’s sense of awareness of what we want this year,” Klesmit said. “Whether that’s in the weight room or practicing, everybody is playing at a super high level just because everybody trusts everyone. We trust everybody one through 18.”

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