The Wisconsin Badgers have slid into the rankings after a convincing win over the highly ranked and touted Arizona Wildcats basketball team.
The Badgers defeated the Wildcats, 103-88, largely behind a 41-point outburst from talented transfer guard John Tonje. The Wisconsin Badgers have walked away from the traditional big-man oriented offense and now focusing on trying to attack teams from outside before entering the paint. Thus far into the season, and Wisconsin has proven that they can hang with the best-of-the-best moving forward.
After the win, the Wisconsin Badgers advanced to 4-0 and solidified themselves as a ranked school in the latest AP Poll Top-25. The Badgers sucked into the 19th spot in the rankings, jumping a few spots during the debut this season in the poll. Wisconsin now moves forward for the rest of the 2024 season with much higher expectations after the team showcased what they can do.
WE HAVE BADGERS ON THE COURT IN MADISONNNN
Wisconsin beats Arizona 103-88 behind FOURTY ONE from Tonje!🔥🔥🔥
Arizona has some legit questions as we move into the year. I wasn’t super high on them & this kind of solidified that for me.
Still a really good team, just don’t know… pic.twitter.com/5ofWCqg4uC
— NKY Bracket Guy (@BracketNky) November 16, 2024
Tonje in particular has been someone who has been the heart of the team through these four games, and arguably the man who helped the team reach this point. After his 41-point performance, the guard now averages 23.5-points per game, 5.5-rebounds per game, and a field-goal percentage of 55.8%.
Alongside Tonje this season has been guard Max Klesmit and center Steven Crowl who both have had exceptional performances early in the season. As Crowl stated in a post-game interview, the Wisconsin Badgers are comfortable with giving the basketball to whoever in “on” that night. Wisconsin aims to play team basketball, and often that means one man is not standing out too far in front of the rest of the team.
Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Faces Tough Road Ahead During 2024 Season
With a win over the Arizona Wildcats, the pressure to win other big games this season is on as the Wisconsin Badgers have some tough games ahead.
First, the Wisconsin Badgers will face UCF, Michigan, #15 Marquette, #20 Illinois, and Butler in the next month. The Knights and Wolverines are two changed teams that are fighting for a spot in the tournament this March and need big wins. Marquette, Illinois, and Butler are three teams that have all proven to be dangerous, and while Butler is the worst of the three the Bulldogs still like to play their own version of bully-ball.
The Wisconsin Badgers will have to face Illinois again later this season, and must play Iowa and Minnesota twice as well. The other truly tough conference opponents this season for Wisconsin are going to be #24 Rutgers and #6 Purdue. Indiana is another tough team, but Wisconsin matches up much better against the Hoosiers than they do against Rutgers or Purdue.
Purdue is going to do the same thing they always do and utilize a big man in the paint while kicking out to talented perimeter shooters. Rutgers, however, is going to utilize the talented guard duo of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper who average a combined 38.3-points per game this season.
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