MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin endured a slugfest through the first six weeks of its nonconference schedule, facing a bevy of ranked teams and dealing with hostile environments. It must have been a relief that the Badgers finally got a break.

Although the four-game winning streak Chicago State entered with was the program’s longest in 15 years, No.24 Wisconsin had little trouble closing out the Cougars with an 80-53 victory at the Kohl Center.

Improving to 6-1 at home this season and winning eight of the last nine games, Wisconsin (9-3) got a career night from sophomore A.J. Storr, an impressive defensive performance from Max Klesmit, and had to hold its breath with a non-contact injury to Chucky Hepburn.

Here are my takeaways from Wisconsin’s final game of the 2023 calendar year.

Storr has delivered better performances in more critical games for Wisconsin this season but there arguably hasn’t been one as complete as the one he delivered Friday.

Storr’s career-high 29 points showcased all the things Wisconsin liked about him when they recruited him out of the transfer portal (raw talent and athleticism, ability to score from multiple levels, etc.) and all the things he’s grown and developed since arriving in the fall (cutting and playing off two feet).

He did damage around the rim, an area that he finished 7-for-10. His backdoor cut opened him to receive an easy pass from Hepburn. He battled through contact to convert a pair of three-point plays and slammed home an offensive rebound just after it rattled off the rim.

The sophomore also showed his range by hitting a team-high three 3-pointers. Storr went 3-for-5 on the perimeter, while his teammates went 1-for-11.

“At the end, it is a team game, but I think it started off really going inside,” Storr said. “They tried to double the post sometimes and guys were getting lost out there. They left the perimeter open for us to have driving opportunities and shooting opportunities.”

Tracking usage rates among Big Ten players, estimating the percentage of a team's possessions a player uses while on the floor, Storr is third in the league at 30.7 percent. He’s only percentage points by Purdue’s Zach Edey (31.7) and Michigan State’s Tyson Walker (31.3). He was maximized in the first half when he attempted 13 of Wisconsin’s 27 shots and delivered eight of UW’s 14 field goals.

His 20 points in the first half were only two off his season-high and three from his career-best.

The only thing preventing Storr was a perfect performance was forcing some transition shots in odd-man rushes and missing a pair of technical free throws.

“We’re going to need those going forward,” head coach Greg Gard said. “We can’t have an empty possession when we have a breakaway like that. He can put us in those positions a lot, which is good. Now we got to convert when we get those situations … He’s got areas to continue to get better at, but he’s come a long way in a short time.”

Chicago State’s losing record was a misleading statistic, especially considering the Cougars were on a four-game winning streak (their longest since the 2008-09 season) that started with an upset at No.25 Northwestern. Former four-star prospect Wesley Cardet was the star that night with 30 points, showcasing why high majors recruited him so aggressively out of Orlando, FL.

UW made sure he didn’t have another, thanks in large part to the defense of Klesmit.

While Wisconsin’s bigs did their part by shutting down open lanes and clogging things up around the rim, Klesmit’s on-ball defense made life challenging for Cardet. He was held to 10 points (8.9 points below his average) and finished just 4-for-22 from the floor, making as many baskets as turnovers.

Klesmit drew the assignment because of the physicalness he plays with, also getting brief reprieves from John Blackwell and Hepburn.

It’s not the first time Klesmit has got the better of Cardet. As a sophomore at Wofford, Klesmit faced Cardet, who was then a freshman at Samford. In two meetings against the Terriers, Cardet averaged 8.0 points on nine shots.

“I knew he really wanted to get downhill with that right hand, so it was trying to shut things off like that,” Klesmit said. “Guys that are good scorers are comfortable getting to, just trying to make them do something a little bit different.”

Wisconsin didn’t give much air to Jahsean Corbett either. The team’s second-leading scorer at 13 points per game, Corbett had nine points on 14 shot attempts.

“A very workmanlike performance tonight,” Gard said.

Hepburn went down with a non-contact injury with 18:08 remaining in the second half, collapsinh to the court as he drove to the rim following a mid-court steal. Holding his upper right leg and wincing in considerable pain, Hepburn was taken straight to the locker room and unable to put any weight on the leg.

He was ruled out for the remainder of the game but eventually rejoined the team on the bench, sporting a heavy wrap and a limp.

“He’ll just have some time off,” Gard said of Hepburn. “He was walking around the locker room afterward. It’ll be sore, I’m sure, for a little bit, but I think he feels he’s going to be fine. He said he was going to go dunk that one before he got hurt.”

Hepburn has averaged 8.0 points, 4.5 assists, and 1.9 steals over the last eight games and was the steady pulse of the offense. The one positive for Gard was Klesmit and Kamari McGee got some extended minutes running the offense, which still functioned at an efficient rate with Hepburn on the bench.

Wisconsin averaged 1.18 points per possession in the first half and 1.4 in the second.

“The depth is a big piece of it,” Gard said. “The experience is another part of it. Guys are a year older, a year more mature. They understand when we need to tighten the belt a little bit and push leads forward, take it from 15 to 25, they understand how important that is and continue to play the game every position as well as possible.”

UW players, coaches, and support staff wore white t-shirts during warmups and throughout the game in honor of Walt McGrory, a former walk-on who lost his battle with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, Saturday.

The shirt was simple, yet poignant with his message of “Walt Strong” and the quote “A Broken Spirit Doesn’t Stand A Chance.”

Gard, UW assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft, strength coach Jim Sneider, former athletic trainer Henry Perez-Guerra, and seniors Carter Gilmore and Tyler Wahl flew up to Minneapolis for the funeral Friday morning.

Playing at Edina (MN) High School, where he was a state champion and the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,126 points, McGrory joined Wisconsin as a walk-on in 2017 and played in 37 games for the program. A two-time Academic All-Big Ten student and a Big Ten champion in 2020, McGrory transferred to the University of South Dakota in April 2021.

In August 2021, McGrory announced he was battling bone cancer. In July 2022, McGrory said the osteosarcoma, once in remission, had returned and spread within his body. He was 24 years old.

“Watching Walt go through that, he was always so positive, he was always so upbeat,” Gard said. “He had an agonizing two years, and specifically last month. He always kept a positive outlook on it, that he was going to beat it, and really until the last couple weeks I think is where it went downhill fast. It’s a great reminder that there are many more important things than missing a shot, making a shot, winning a game or losing a game.”

5 – Storr reached the 20-point plateau for the fifth time in his career, including the third time this season. He has scored in double figures in 10 of UW’s 12 games this season.

6 – Wisconsin has scored at least 70 points in six consecutive games, the longest streak since a nine-game stretch of at least 70 points in 2021-22.

7 – Wisconsin matched a season low seven turnovers. The Cougars entered the game forcing 15.6 turnovers per game, which ranked 34th in the NCAA.

20 - Blocking two shots Friday, Wahl (72) passed Sam Okey (71) for 20th on the school's all-time block list.

31.7 – Wisconsin held Chicago State to 20 of 63 from the field, a season-low percentage for a UW opponent and the lowest shooting since Wisconsin held Dayton to a 14 of 59 (23.7 percent) performance on November 23, 2022.

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