RECAP: John Tonje stars as Wisconsin basketball upsets No. 9 Arizona

RECAP: John Tonje leads Wisconsin to signature win over No. 9 Arizona

This story was updated to change a photo.

Wisconsin basketball picked up a statement victory on Friday — a 103-88 triumph over the No. 9-ranked Arizona Wildcats.

Transfer wing John Tonje headlined the Badgers’ performance. He finished with 41 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 21-of-22 from the free-throw line. Those 41 points came within just two points of breaking Frank Kaminsky’s single-game program scoring record (43 points), while the 21 free throw makes did break the program’s previous record of 17 (Nigel Hayes, Jan. 26, 2016).

Related: Biggest takeaways from Wisconsin basketball’s big win over Arizona

Wisconsin’s performance was again led by great three-point and free-throw shooting. Greg Gard’s team shot 48% from the floor, 44.4% from three (12-of-27) and 87.2% from the charity stripe (41-of-47). 103-point outings would have sounded impossible for previous iterations of the Badgers. Gard’s new-look, analytics-driven approach is leading to substantial results.

John Blackwell and Max Klesmit combined for 27 points in the victory, walk-on guard Jack Janicki played a big role with nine points off the bench, transfer forward Xavier Amos finished with eight points with two three-pointers made and Kamari McGee continued to excel in his role off the bench.

Every stat leads back to Tonje, who has given Wisconsin a dominant scoring presence that it desperately needed after A.J. Storr’s offseason departure. Tonje’s play and the Badgers’ big win should start to alter expectations moving forward.

Wisconsin improves to 4-0 on the young season with the statement victory. Arizona, meanwhile, drops to 2-1. The Badgers are sure to enter the AP Poll when it is updated next week.

Wisconsin returns to the court on Monday against UT-Rio Grande before a weekend road trip to the Greenbrier Classic.

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