John Blackwell and John Tonje are easily the main stars in Wisconsin Badgers’ dominant win over Nebraska Cornhuskers but head coach Greg Gard wants to give his props, too, to his big men.
Blackwell and Tonje, the team’s top two scorers this season, scored 14 and 27 respectively.
They had eight points each during the first five minutes of the game to build a 19-2 lead and set the tone the rest of the way.
The bench made a good account of themselves, too, led by Kamari McGee who scored 11 points.
The big men played with calmness and let the game come to them.
Starting forward Steven Crowl may have scored just one point in the game but he had three assists and seven rebounds. The assists came at a time when the Cornhuskers were trying to make a run.
Carter Gilmore, who earned praises form UCLA coach for his hustle two days before, provided huge lift from the bench together with Xavier Amos. Gilmore had three points, four rebounds, and three assists while Amos had two points, two rebounds, and four assists.
Nolan Winter also had two dimes.
That is 12 total assists in total among Badgers frontcourt.
Greg Gard on Wisconsin Badgers big men’s assists
Gard has been critical of his big men before but this time, he thought they played their role well.
He said post-game that it has always been their plan to utilize their size more.
“We wanted to play through Steve and Nolan and Gilmore. Throw it in and them make decisions out of there,” he told reporters.
“And then we played four on three, three on two behind that … The post, I’ve always said, is a good playmaking position. You don’t always have to shoot it. It really pulls the fire alarm of the defense when throw it that close to the basket.”
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