The Wisconsin Badgers saw their season end heartbreakingly as a late second-half comeback fell short against the BYU Cougars 91-89. The Cougars never trailed in this game and responded repeatedly when the Badgers went on scoring runs to cut the lead to single digits.
Despite having a height advantage against the BYU frontcourt, Wisconsin was outrebounded 41-31 and gave up 13 offensive rebounds in the loss. In addition, the Badgers surrendered 38 points in the paint against the attacking Cougar offense.
I had a hard time reflecting on the season after John Tonje’s final shot fell well short at the end of the game. This was a successful winning season for Greg Gard and the Badgers, and perhaps Gard’s best coaching job as the head coach at Wisconsin. Despite what some rabid Badger fans think, he should not be on the hot seat next season.
However, we cannot ignore the Badgers’ failures under Gard to get the second weekend since the 2016-17 team led by Bo Ryan recruits Bronson Koenig, Ethan Happ, Nigel Hayes, and Zak Showalter. That is unacceptable for Wisconsin basketball.
Here are three standouts from the Wisconsin-BYU game:
John Tonje
The end result was not what he wanted, but what a final game for the greatest Wisconsin basketball transfer of the modern era. Carrying his team on his back in the second half, Tonje finished with 37 points, a Wisconsin program record in the NCAA Tournament.
After arriving at Madison, Tonje put together one of the greatest individual seasons in program history. The second-team All-American averaged 19.6 PPG, including tremendous performances against ninth-ranked Arizona (41 points), seventh-ranked Purdue (32 points), and Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament (32 points). Not bad for a little-known transfer guard from Colorado State and Missouri.
John Blackwell
Blackwell was the Badgers’ second-leading scorer with 21 points, albeit on six-of-14 shots from the floor. It was another solid game for the honorable mention All-Big Ten guard.
Before the start of the season, Greg Gard noticed something different about Blackwell. The sophomore guard was more comfortable with the ball, and that comfortability accompanied a much more focused mindset, similar to that of former All-American Johnny Davis.
While he did not have a season like Davis, Blackwell made a noticeable sophomore leap in his second season, finishing with 15.8 points per game. His post on X should quell any concerns that he might enter the transfer portal after the season.
Richie Saunders
One of the keys for Wisconsin to win was to stop Saunders from getting into any groove. That did not happen. Saunders, BYU’s leading scorer, finished with 25 points on nine-of-16 shots from the floor, including 13 points in the second half. Saunders only had four free throws this game, but they came at two critical times. The BYU star converted two free throws after a Wisconsin technical foul, including a layup on the following possession, and Saunders’ final free throws of the game proved to be the difference.
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