The Wisconsin Badgers have secured a second win in the 2024 season in as many games after beating Montana State.
The Badgers have still not had the dominant performance the fans are truly looking for, with the Bobcats seemingly putting up a tough fight. However, the Wisconsin Badgers defeated the Bobcats in the end and that is what matters as the team moves onto the next opponent.
Montana State was largely a question mark heading into the 2024 season due to the fact that much of the team was unproven players. Guards Max Agbonkpolo and Jabe Mullins both transferred into the program after finding success elsewhere, but only in limited roles. The Bobcats proven to be a tough team for the Badgers to beat, and certainly seem to have more of an offensive identity that many thought.
Guard Max Klesmit was the big offensive presence for the Wisconsin Badgers against the Bobcats, nailing six triples. Klesmit scored 26-points and looked solid while doing so, but the best offensive player was arguably Kamari McGee. The guard added clutch shooting off of the bench that energized the offense and the team as a whole.
McGee is someone who could continue to carve out a larger role for himself off the bench in the absence of guard Camren Hunter. The guard has missed time with a lower body injury, which has led to McGee playing a significant amount of minutes for the team. McGee looked a bit unsure against Holy Cross, but seemed far more confident and poised against Montana State.
What Went Right, What Went Wrong for the Wisconsin Badgers Against Montana State
While the Wisconsin Badgers may have secured the win over the Montana State Bobcats, that does not mean everything went according to plan.
Starting on the defensive side of the ball, the Badgers allowed 26 three-point shots to be taken which is a bit more than the team would like. The Wisconsin Badgers have wanted to shoot plenty of three-pointers themselves this season, but allowing the exact same amount to be scored negates the success from outside. Moving forward, the Badgers will have to focus on finding ways to close out and prevent open looks from long-range.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Wisconsin Badgers turned the basketball over 11 times which allowed Montana State to keep the game close. The Badgers had issues with turnovers last season and lost games due to it, which should bring a different sense of urgency to fix the issue this time around.
What the Wisconsin Badgers did really well was move the ball around and play a controlled style of offense all game. The Badgers did not force shots, nor did they attempt to make anything happen on offense that they did not need to. If the Badgers can continue to play a similar level of intelligent basketball shot wise, the team could find more offensive success down the road.
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