IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Wisconsin has an offense built for success with three-point shooters, players willing to attack the paint, and a rotation confident with shooting from the foul line. If the Badgers can replicate what they did defensively over the final stretch of the season, Wisconsin will be a tough out from this point forth.

In an afternoon when open shots didn’t fall, No.21 Wisconsin delivered one of its better defensive efforts in the season with a 74-63 victory over Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Against the highest-scoring team in the conference, and a top-five offense nationally, the Badgers (19-5, 9-4 Big Ten) held the Hawkeyes to 36.1 percent shooting and a season-low 63 points. It is only the second time in the last 10 seasons that Iowa (13-10, 4-8) has been held to that few points at home.

“This just shows how good and talented this team can be down the stretch.,” guard John Blackwell said. “We did a great job, guards and bigs of shut their water off, get the players who were scoring off the line. They are a great scoring team … but credit to our coaches. We kept it according to the plan and executed.”

With John Tonje scoring 14 of his game-high 22 points in the second half and Blackwell chipping in 19, the Badgers stayed within two games of first-place Purdue in the conference standings with seven games remaining in the regular season, making next Saturday’s matchup at Mackey Arena a championship-like atmosphere.

Here are my takeaways from Wisconsin’s fourth Big Ten road win.

A gut reaction from Blackwell was that the final 7:30 of the second half was one of Wisconsin’s better defensive stretches of the season, possessions which the Badgers turned a back-and-forth game into a surging momentum of confidence.

“Get a kill here and string a few stops together, and this game will be over,” Blackwell said.

Payton Sandfort’s three-pointer and Drew Thelwell’s layup gave Iowa a 59-58 lead over the 5-0 run. Tonje’s started to erase Iowa's confidence with points on three straight trips, two possessions that ended with two free throws after drawing a foul on drives to the rim, and another off a three-pointer.

Tonje went 5-for-11 from the floor and 3-for-9 from three but made more free throws (nine) than the Hawkeyes did (seven).

“They were pressuring up, and we were in the bonus,” Tonje said. “I just took advantage of driving it right at their shoulders to get the calls.”

“He’s one of the best players I’ve played with throughout my career,” Blackwell added of Tonje. “He finds a knack for scoring. His shot’s not falling, he finds a way to get fouled or get to the rim. He’s just a humble dude."

While Tonje took advantage of how Iowa was guarding him, UW locked down the rim and contested shooters on the perimeter. The Hawkeyes missed both attempted jumpers, all four three-point tries, went 1-for-4 in the paint, and committed two turnovers over the final 7:35.

The only Iowa field goal was a Pryce Sandfort layup with 4:39 remaining, as the Hawkeyes only scored four points over the closing stretch.

With Iowa needing to lean on its starting guards without leading-scorer Owen Freeman, Wisconsin held Josh Dix (5-for-12, 13 points) and Payton Sandfort (2-for-11, 7 points) in check. The duo combined for 50 points in Tuesday’s loss against Purdue.

“It shows how much they are buying in,” Gard said of the defense. “They’re getting better … We were pretty well attached to the shooters and were able to cover for each other when there was a breakdown. We had a four or five ready to absorb the offensive player who broke loose.”

Iowa players were miffed at Kamari McGee’s comments after UW scored 116 points on the Hawkeyes last month when the Wisconsin point guard said the Hawkeyes were only trying to outscore them and didn’t care about the defensive end.

The difference between Iowa’s defense was night and day. The Badgers went 14-for-30 (46.7 percent) in the first half but trailed by two based on their inability to clean up the offensive glass and take care of the ball. Iowa attempted six more shots because the Badgers committed six turnovers and gave up five offensive rebounds, outscoring UW a combined 16-6 in those two departments.

With Freeman (finger surgery) unavailable, the Hawkeyes put 6-11 junior Riley Mulvey on Steven Crowl to start the game and sent 6-7 sophomore Seydou Traore over on the double when the ball entered the post.

Crowl’s only turnover on a crossing pass led to a second-chance three-pointer, but other doubles led to disjoined possessions and near turnovers. Iowa’s ability to force lane drivers toward the baseline and not the rim created other dead-ball turnovers.

The Hawkeyes entered the weekend 17th in the conference in rebounds (32.0) and last in rebounding margin (-5.5) but also took advantage of long bounces to hold a 9-2 edge in second-chance points in the first half.

“We just take our time and be available for each other,” Blackwell said of the message amongst the players. “Things will open us for us.”

The challenge from Gard was to play aggressively and confidently bringing the ball up the court and breaking the press. Wisconsin only had three turnovers in 30 second-half possessions and didn’t get lost defensively. Iowa had six offensive rebounds in the second half but managed one second-chance point with 11:56 remaining.

“When we did give them up, we did a good job attaching and staying with shooters on the perimeter,” Gard said. “We didn’t migrate to the ball, and they couldn’t find shooters right away. We did a good job following the scouting report.”

Crowl and Nolan Winter went a combined 4-for-15 from the floor but both players contributed in other ways. Recording 11 of their 15 rebounds in the second half, Crowl added a career-high three steals, delivered two assists, and extended his block streak to nine straight games. Crowl was also solid in ball-screen defense. Winter added seven rebounds, including three offensive boards.

With Iowa constantly doubling the post, the Badgers were able to get ball movement into the corners to knock down open three-pointers and shift momentum, like when Crowl hit McGee for a corner three that gave the Badgers a lead it wouldn’t relinquish over the final 10 minutes.

“He switched on to guards at times and didn’t let them lock in and shoot threes over him,” Gard said of Crowl. “I thought he was really good on the defensive glass. Playing through him, too. Even though the perimeter gets a lot of the attention, we played through him and played out of the post double they were

Blackwell’s run in the second half set the table for Wisconsin’s comeback. The sophomore hit a second-chance layup to tie the score at 51 and got a friendly bounce off the rim for a corner three-pointer. That shot put the Badgers up 57-51.

After being saddled with foul trouble in road games at Maryland and Northwestern and only 3-for-12 from the floor in Tuesday’s win over Indiana, Blackwell returned to his dominant form with 19 points (3-for-7 3 FGs), six rebounds, two assists, and a steal.

“He was aggressive for the jump,” Tonje said of Blackwell. “He was being a vocal leader today. He was tremendous down the stretch and a big part of the win … He competes every single day. He is a guy we absolutely need for our success. Today was a testament to that.”

0-9 – Iowa’s record in Quad-1 games this season.

2 - Wisconsin held Iowa to a season-low 63 points and just 38.1 percent shooting overall. Saturday marked just the second time Iowa has been held to 63 points or fewer at home since February of 2016 (Illinois held them to 61 on 3/10/24).

7 – Wisconsin improved to 7-4 away from home, including 4-4 in true road games. UW was 8-11 in such games last year. Entering Saturday, Oregon (8) was the only Big Ten team with more than seven wins away from home.

14 - UW shot 12-for-35 from 3-point range, the 14th time the Badgers have hit double-digit triples (11-3 in such games), extending the single-season school record.

17 – Registering his ninth game with at least 20 points this season, Tonje has scored in double figures in 23 of 25 games this season and 15+ points in 17 games.

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