John Tonje delivered what was expected from him for Wisconsin Badgers in their narrow loss to the Oregon Ducks but for head coach Greg Gard, there is something he can do that will make their flow better.
Tonje poured 22 points in the overtime loss on nine out of 22 shooting. He also had seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals in the game.
The most glaring part of his production, at least to Gard, was his lack of free throw attempts. Tonje had two in the game.
The veteran guard has been known for his drives and shiftiness since arriving to the team and taking the spot as their best player.
The season is not over yet but he is already the NCAA’s top player in throw makes with 131 from a total of 141 attempts. In November last year, he set the Badgers’ record of most free throws in a game by hitting 21 out of 22 en route to a 41-point career game.
However, against the Oregon Ducks, that’s not what the fans saw. He did topscore for them but the aggressiveness was not there.
The loss to the Ducks was a learning moment and for Gard, Tonje getting more free throws is something that they should do as a team.
Wisconsin Badgers as a team should help John Tonje
Gard said Tonje needs to shoot more free throws but that burden does not fall in his shoulders alone.
He said the lack of aggressiveness of the other guys, passing off good shots, forced his star player to a tighter spot.
“So the key with John is he needed to get the free throw line more. He only shoots two, and those were obviously in the first half as all of ours were,” Gard said during practice.
“I thought we settled for too many things at times and we had him taking tougher shots and then we got fours and fives that that are turning down shots. That puts the pressure back on John to have to take a tougher shot when the rest of us aren’t as aggressive as we need to be.”
Tonje and the rest of the Badgers will return to action on Tuesday against the conference’s bottom team Washington Huskies.
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