Wisconsin Basketball Defeats Northwestern 71-63: Takeaways & Notes

The Wisconsin basketball program picked up its sixth straight win on Saturday afternoon, defeating Northwestern 71-63. The Badgers are now 13-3 on the season and remain the only unbeaten team in Big Ten conference play. 

Here are some of my takeaways and notes from Saturday’s victory.

Wisconsin Basketball Guard Max Klesmit Continues His Hot Streak

Max Klesmit, who was coming off of an 18-point performance against Ohio State, kept his foot on the gas against Northwestern, leading all scorers and recording his highest point total in a Badgers uniform with 24 points. 

The Neenah, Wisconsin native shot 9-of-13 from the field, but he really made his mark from beyond the arc, hitting 5-of-7 three-point shots. 

“I thought Klesmit was awesome all day long, getting 24 points,” Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said in postgame media availability.

It was a bit of an inconsistent start to the season for Klesmit, who was shooting nearly 10% below his 2022-23 effective field goal percentage. However, he’s really turned it up in the last few matchups, logging 24 against the Wildcats, 18 against Ohio State, and 15 against Iowa.

Klesmit has been instrumental to Wisconsin’s recent success, and he’s showing a heck of a lot of confidence in his game right now.

Wisconsin Basketball Prevails in Defensive Battle

Northwestern is known for its strong defense, but so is Wisconsin, and the result was a physical back-and-forth defensive battle that left both teams visibly exhausted heading into the final stretch. 

Northwestern brought the defensive intensity early, forcing the Badgers to turn it over seven times within the first ten minutes of play. In total, UW committed 13 turnovers compared to the Wildcats’ ten. 

“The bottom line is when you play Wisconsin, you have to play with physicality. They are a very physical team, and they have been,” Chris Collins said postgame. “I thought both teams were playing incredibly physical, bumping, and aggressive on the ball.”

Although some Badgers were gassed, they were still able to bring the intensity defensively into the final three minutes of the game. Northwestern’s Matthew Nicholson hit a pair of free throws with 2:51 remaining to tie it, but Wisconsin was able to hold the Wildcats scoreless for the remainder of the game. 

Defense will always be the bread and butter of the Wisconsin basketball program, but the resilience they showed in their defense, especially in the last stretch, was impressive. 

Wisconsin Basketball Took Advantage in the Paint

Dominance in the paint isn’t something unfamiliar to Wisconsin, but the Badgers did an excellent job against Northwestern in that area. 

Tyler Wahl was one of the more aggressive players for UW on Saturday, as he forced the Wildcats to make mistakes and foul him often. Wahl led all free throw shooters with 11 attempts, hitting seven.

“We knew they were going to double the post, so just cutting and finding the open spots was something we worked on,” Wahl said postgame. “I feel like we did a good job, not just me, but a lot of guys were cutting and putting the defense at a disadvantage.”

The Badgers shot 26 free throws on the night and were able to cash in on 20 of those shot attempts. 

Notes

Greg Gard went six deep on the bench on Saturday, giving Connor Essegian and Markus Ilver some opportunity in the first half. Though they only played three minutes a piece, they gave UW some good minutes. 

Ilver only registered two rebounds on the stat sheet, but he was flying around and playing tough during his time on the court. Heck, he even went one-on-one with Boo Buie at one point. 

Essegian hit both of his shot attempts, registering five points. He’s starting to get his swagger back, folks.

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It took a while for AJ Storr to get going, but he came alive in the final 10 minutes, finishing with 14 points, five rebounds, an assist, and a steal on the night. 

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The Badgers have now scored 70+ points in ten straight games. 

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The Wisconsin basketball program is now 5-0 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2007-08.