MADISON, Wis. – Good teams depend on a multitude of players to contribute through a long taxing season. The University of Wisconsin experienced that firsthand Friday.

With graduate guard Max Klesmit out with an ankle injury, graduate forward Carter Gilmore battling illness, and reserve guard Camren Hunter hurt in pregame warmups, the Badgers shook off a slow start before hitting their second gear in an 80-59 victory over Minnesota at the Kohl Center.

Putting three players in double figures, Wisconsin (13-3, 3-2 Big Ten) pushed its winning streak to five games while keeping the Gophers (8-8, 0-5) as the only winless team in conference play.

“It shows the unselfishness of this group, the connectedness of this group,” head coach Greg Gard said of overcoming the injuries. “They want to play with and for each other.”

Here are my takeaways from Wisconsin’s eighth consecutive win over Minnesota.

Gard might be the poster child for mild-mannered coaches. In 309 career games, Gard has received one technical. He rarely gets too high or low when talking to officials or his players. So, when Gard did a half spin fist pump following Steven Crowl finishing his hookshot through contact, it was noticeable.

“He knows we’ve had some hard conversations over the years,” Gard said. “I’ve gotten after him.”

That tough love, including public comments after a zero-rebound performance at Illinois and the days after, has ignited the graduate senior. He’s scored in double figures in five straight games and was labeled “a grown man” for his performance against the Gophers: 18 points, five rebounds, and three assists.

“As a fifth-year guy, he expects guys like me, Gilly (Carter Gilmore), us older guys, Kles (Max Klesmit) to be able to handle that criticism,” Crowl said. “I think he uses it to light a fire under us. Obviously, it’s worked.”

Crowl was nothing if not consistent with his play. He scored nine points on three field goals in each half and finished 6-for-7 shooting, including 2-for-2 from 3-point range.

In a one-point game in the opening minute of the second half, Crowl impacted the game by scoring, rebounding, and shot-blocking over a five-minute stretch that boosted UW’s lead into double figures, where it remained.

Gard made a smart switch after the Illinois debacle to play Crowl in shorter spurts, encouraging him to go as aggressive as he can knowing he’ll be taken out to catch his breath before repeating the cycle. Crowl played between 17 and 21 minutes in the three games following the Illinois loss with a slight uptick at Rutgers (24:41) and Minnesota (26:10). Crowl had played at least 26 minutes in six of the first 10 games.

With Crowl combining with the strides made by Nolan Winter (8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 off. rebounds vs. Minnesota), the Badgers became much harder to guard with two 7-foot forwards becoming consistent with their scoring.

That was evident with Minnesota, which had to spread the floor to defend more shooters. That was a catalyst for John Blackwell, John Tonje, and Kamari McGee to play downhill, attack bigger gaps, and drive lanes looking to score or get fouled.

“He understands how good he can be when he’s aggressive,” Gard said. “He’s been assertive and dominant in his own way. It’s great to see. It takes pressure off Blackwell, pressure off Tonje. We can come at you in a lot of different ways and different guys lead the scoring charge.”

Klesmit missed his first start since 2023 with a right ankle injury suffered Monday against Rutgers. Klesmit came out for warmups and did some light shooting, moving, and cutting. He was dressed in uniform on the bench but didn’t play.

McGee started in his place, his first collegiate start since his freshman year at Green Bay. UW missed his spark off the bench, especially early in the first half, but still got his production. In a UW-high 33 minutes, McGee had 15 points (his most since joining the program), five rebounds, three steals, and two assists.

“There was no mindset change,” McGee said, “other than me being super excited.”

With Gilmore limited to seven minutes, Xavier Amos played a season-high 22 minutes. While he wasn’t “exceptionally crisp offensively” in Gard’s eyes, the junior used his 6-7 frame and wingspan to make life a little harder on Minnesota leading-scorer Dawson Garcia.

“He’s playing much more physical than he did when he first got here,” Gard said of Amos, who had 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and a block. “He understands the jump he’s had to make. When you come to this level, you have to play physical … He’s understanding and starting to embrace more of the physical nature that is needed.”

Gard finally found minutes for senior Markus Ilver, who hit two three-pointers and had two rebounds in 10 minutes, while redshirt freshman Jack Janicki was plus-22 in his 16 minutes on the court, registering four points, two rebounds, two steals, and an assist.

“There’s no surprise in those guys showing up today,” McGee said. “They do it every day in practice. We see it every day. We’ve been seeing it since the summer. They show up and work hard every single day … Those guys are key off the bench.”

Wisconsin had decent looks that did not fall in the first half, but problems persisted with lax defense. The Gophers started 5-for-7 from the field with a combination of jumpers, layups, and perimeter shots.

Gard said his timeout huddles are usually spot on with the players identifying the problems before he sits down, a sign he believes Wisconsin is developing into a true player’s coach team.

After falling behind 15-5, Wisconsin held Minnesota to 6-for-24 from the field the final 14+ minutes and forced turnovers, eight of them in total that led to nine points in the first half.

“Things just worked better, started flowing better,” said Tonje, who had 16 points. “You get confidence and get things rolling when you get stops. Getting out in transition is crucial. Playing good defense is crucial for the offense.”

The defense held Minnesota to 5-for-18 through the first 15 minutes of the second half as UW’s lead swelled to 30 points. Part of that was defense and the other was more exceptional ball movement, as seven players combined for 11 assists on UW’s 15 second-half field goals.

“They can’t key in one just one guy.,” McGee said. “That’s what’s special about our team. We have a lot of weapons. We are a pretty deep team. You never know who is going to go off and just have those six or seven guys each sharing the ball and scoring the ball it’s just good to know that other teams can’t zone in on one guy.”

9 – Wisconsin shot 11-for-28 (39.3 percent) from 3-point range, including 8-for-15 in the second half. It’s the ninth time Wisconsin hit double-digit threes after doing it only seven times last season. UW also tallied nine steals in a Big Ten game for the first time since last March against Purdue.

20 – Wisconsin went 19-for-24 from the free-throw line. The Badgers are 84-25 under Gard when attempting at least 20 free throws.

21 - UW's 21-point victory matched its fourth-largest margin over Minnesota in the NCAA tournament era (since 1939).

70 – Wisconsin is 8-1 when holding opponents to 70 points or fewer this season and 25-1 over the last two seasons. Dating back to 2017, the Gophers have topped 70 points in just one of the previous 19 meetings with Wisconsin.

86.7 – Gard is 13-2 as a head coach against Minnesota.

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @_Perko_, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_

*Like us on Facebook