Badgers Takeaways from No.19 Wisconsin's 86-70 Win over UCF in the Greenbrier Tip-Off

WHITE SULPHUR SPRING, W.Va. – With a court set up in the middle of the Colonial Hall ballroom and a capacity of 1,100 seats, the Greenbrier Tip-Off had an intimate setting. The large contingent of Wisconsin fans sitting behind the bench and along the baseline made it feel like a home game, especially with there being plenty to cheer about.

Leading wire-to-wire thanks to sound defense and balanced scoring, No.19 Wisconsin cruised to an 86-70 over UCF in the semifinals of the Greenbrier Tip-Off.

“Our fans travel well, and it’s a beautiful thing to see,” said senior Kamari McGee, who scored 14 points off the bench. “A lot of us came here because we have a solid fan base like that.”

Putting four players in double figures, the Badgers (6-0) are off to their best start since their national runner-up season a decade ago and improved to 8-1 in their last four November tournaments.

Here are my takeaways from the Greenbrier Tip-Off.

Crowl, Winter Build Wisconsin's Lead

Seeing a 7-2 freshman center in the starting lineup must have brought a smile to the faces of Steven Crowl and Nolan Winter. The duo certainly played like it.

Both players attacked the basket as soon as possible. Crowl backed down his defender on the first possession, only to see his hook shot fail to fall over the front rim. Winter finished a post bucket through Deebo Coleman on the second possession, and the offense started to flow through the frontcourt.

“Getting off to a hot start offensively and defensively, just setting a tone for the game, was a big part of our emphasis for us,” Winter said.

The Badgers’ lead in the first half was largely created on the shoulders of Crowl and Winter. When Crowl made a layup with 9:56 remaining in the first half, the duo had combined for 10 points (4-for-6), 6 rebounds, one steal, and two assists, both resulting in corner three-pointers.

Spending the offseason refining his offensive game with his back to the basket, Winter’s best offense came when he was backing down Thiam and finishing a post touch off the glass, setting a tone for the physicality that was coming.

Wisconsin scored on 15 of its first 25 possessions, generating 20 points in the paint and 1.28 points per possession without the benefit of the perimeter shot (3-for-9) or the free throw (1-for-3). UW didn’t miss its first point-blank shot until the 5:38 mark but the Badgers still saw Winter corral two offensive rebounds on the possessions and make a pair of free throws.

“Being a 7-footer, it’s not like I have to do anything crazy athletic to get around people,” Winter said. “I know I’m not the strongest person ever. Just having a nose for it and having a knack of where the ball is going to go, I credit that to my dad. At a young age, he taught me all the angles where the ball is most likely to bounce. I just try to get to those spots and being 7-foot, it’s pretty easy.”

Unfortunately for Crowl, he became a non-factor in the final 22:37 of the game. Whistled for a technical foul with 2:37 remaining in the first half, Crowl sat with three fouls, picked up his fourth foul on the first possession of the second half, and fouled out barely two-and-a-half minutes after checking in late in the game.

Fortunately for UW, Winter kept things moving. He hit a touch shot from the paint to make it 48-33 and nailed an uncontested three-pointer on the next possession. He picked up his fifth offensive rebound with a tip-in with his left hand at the rim that Gard called “a big-time play.”

“Every minute and experience he gets helps him,” Gard said. “He’s still a young pup so to speak.”

Winter registered his first collegiate double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds while Crowl had six points, four rebounds, and three assists in 14 minutes.

With 83 points, Wisconsin hit at least 79 points on the scoreboard in its first six games for the first time in school history. While still growing offensively, Winter said he could feel the group's chemistry to materialize during summer workouts as they learned each other’s skills.

“Maybe people didn’t really see it from the outside, but within ourselves we knew we had some special players, some athleticism, and we all gelled really well together,” Winter said. “Just going to work at practice every day, we’re all super talented, so just making each other better. Iron sharpens iron.”

Successfully Slowing UCF's Guards

Max Klesmit was candid Monday when he said one of Wisconsin’s biggest defensive issues was keeping the ball in front of them when scorers try to hit their driving lanes. Gard added at least five other areas where UW’s guards struggled, from back cuts to not being physical enough at the start with ball pressure.

Wisconsin was much better in those areas Friday, especially against a UCF guard trio of Jordan Ivy-Curry, Keyshawn Hall, and Darius Johnson who were scoring 62.4 percent of the Knights’ points.

Challenging UCF’s shooters with their movement and spacing, Ivy-Curry needed 14 shots to score his team-high 13 points. Hall needed 11 to score his 11, while Johnson finished with seven points on 2-for-9 shooting. The trio finished a combined 9-for-36, far behind UW's guard trio of Klesmit, Tonje, and John Blackwell (40 points on 15-for-33).

“We knew coming in the guards were the dominant scorer,” McGee said. “We really keyed in to make sure we are able to guard one-on-one. You got to rely on our help, our gaps, but you got to be able to keep the ball in front of you. Otherwise, the gaps or the help side won’t matter because it’s too open. That was definitely a vital key of our defense this week, just make sure we contain our man so we wouldn’t have to help as much.”

The trio combined for 31 points, a good chunk of the scoring resulted from them going 12-for-17 from the line because the Badgers were whistled for 26 fouls. Unlike the 31-foul game against Arizona last week, a portion of these fouls fall into the “unnecessary” category where UW was reaching or chasing instead of playing physically.

It’s a reason that UW was outshot from the foul line for the first time this season, as UCF went 26-for-37 while UW finished 12-for-16.

“That’s something we’re going to have to clean up a little bit,” McGee said. “A lot of silly ones. A lot of the help was there but we bailed (UCF) out … the game of basketball is physical. There’s going to be fouls. You just got to eliminate the ones that are unnecessary.”

Wisconsin's Bench Still Growing

While Wisconsin’s staff know it’s getting offense, energy, and pace from McGee and defense from Carter Gilmore off the bench, the Badgers are still a little bit of a mystery deeper down in their rotation.

The Badgers have seen growth from Xavier Amos in the past week, having played 14 minutes against Arizona, 11 against UTRGV, and 14 against UCF, finishing 2-for-7 but with five defensive rebounds.

Gard is trying to use more of redshirt freshman Jack Janicki, who logged 15 minutes and was active defensively with a block and a steal and offensively with a rebound that led to a John Blackwell free throw and a three-pointer during UW’s first-half surge.

Beyond that, the Badgers haven’t given anyone significant minutes through six games.

“We’re still learning because guys are continuing to grow,” Gard said of his bench. “They have to continue to get better. They aren’t going to stay better. You either are getting better or regressing.”

“Between (Janicki), Xavier, Gilly, Kam, those guys come in and add something,” Gard said. “That’s what we always ask, come in and add. Whatever your strength is, add to our mix and try to elevate us, try to push. That second wave, we were able to extend the lead with some of those guys on the floor.”

By The Numbers

11.8 - Wisconsin held UCF to 2-for-17 (11.8 percent) shooting from 3-point range, the Badgers' lowest opponent three-point percentage since holding Iowa to 10.7 percent (3-for-28) on Feb. 22, 2023.

10 – Registering his first collegiate double-double, Winter’s 10 rebounds were a career high. The sophomore has at least eight rebounds in three games this season after entering the year with a career-high of 7 boards.

15 – Leading scorer John Tonje finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Scoring in double figures in all six games, Tonje is the first Badger to score 15 points in five of the season's first six games since Johnny Davis hit that mark in six straight games in the 2021-22 season.

21 - UW finished with a season-high 21 assists, the team's most since posting 25 against Maryland in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament.

70.5 - UW has now won 8 of its last 9 non-conference November tournament games, going 3-0 in the 2021 Maui Invitational, 2-1 in the 2022 Battle 4 Atlantis and 2-0 in the 2023 Fort Myers Tip-Off. Since 2005, the Badgers are a combined 31-13 (.705) in Nov. tournament games.