It is not yet full one month when Wisconsin Badgers coach Greg Gard was critical of John Tonje for not looking for his shot despite being the team’s top scorer.
The graduate student did it again and this time, he scored none.
Tonje took just three shots in their 84-69 win against USC. That is his lowest output in his collegiate basketball career and the lowest number of field goal attempts this season.
When he took just six shots in back to back games and wins against Detroit Mercy Titans and Iowa Hawkeyes, Gard called out his lack of efficiency.
“We need him to continue to be more efficient. If this team’s going to really reach a high level. We have to have him at a high level, more consistently.”
John Blackwell carried the bulk of the offensive workload for them with 28 points while Kamari McGee scored 10 points off the bench.
Greg Gard is not critical of John Tonje
Gard is not that mad anymore despite Tonje’s offensive struggle and lack of shots. In fact, he thought the win showed something about the capability of his team when their stars are struggling.
“We score 84 points and John (Tonje) doesn’t score. There’s been so many nights he’s carried us,” Gard said post-game as quoted by Benjamin Worgull of Badger Blitz.
“He’s helped us. I think that’s what makes this team really, really good is we have a lot of pieces and a lot of weapons.”
He also believes the team is just getting better with players other than Tonje stepping up.
“When you can get a road win without your leading scorer getting a point, it shows me the depth this team has. We’re not dependent on one or two specific guys and we’re still trending upward.”
Tonje is currently the team’s top scorer with 17 points.
He has a chance to make up for the bad game when team travels to UCL on Tuesday.
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