Wisconsin Badgers’ performance in the past weeks has been recognized by the AP Poll ranking but none of it would happen without the lead of top scorer John Tonje.
The individual efforts of Greg Gard’s squad as Big Ten named Tonje as the Player of the Week, the third time he bagged such honor this season.
The recognition comes at the heels of his nuclear performance against Purdue Boilermakers wherein he scored 32 points on 10 out of 15 shooting.
He is so far the country’s only player to post multiple 30-point games vs. top 10 opponents this season.
More hardware for @johntonje1!
The #Badgers guard earns his third @B1GMBBall Player of the Week honor of the season and was named the @NaismithTrophy Player of the Week for the first time this year! pic.twitter.com/W5UPSRfltv
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) February 17, 2025
Tonje’s efforts are not just empty stats. The team are now fourth in the Big Ten standings, just half a game below no. 3 Purdue and one game below no. 2 Michigan State Spartans.
They are also tied with the 20-5 overall record of the conference’s current no. 1 team Michigan Wolverines.
John Tonje on Wisconsin Badgers’ last win
The last one is probably one of the hardest for Badgers this season as they lost Kamari McGee in the first half due to flagrant foul.
Like the leader that he is, Tonje showed maturity to wheel his team to victory.
He stepped on the plate come the second half.
“We were just trying to make plays for our teammates,” Tonje said about his second half performance.
“I want to give a shoutout to all my guys from top to bottom. Kamari McGee got ejected; that’s my brother. We told him in the locker room at halftime, ‘We’re going to get this win for you.’ We came out here and competed, and I’m so proud of these guys.”
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