Tag: pittsburgh basketball

Wisconsin basketball’s unsung hero continues to impress

Wisconsin basketball’s unsung hero continues to impress

The Wisconsin Badgers basketball program is off to a historic start to the 2024-25 season. Without Kamari McGee, that might not be possible.

The senior guard continues to prove his worth for Greg Gard’s program. In the Badgers’ 81-75 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday, McGee scored 10 points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists in 28 minutes off the bench.

Eight of those 10 tallies arrived at crucial points in the second half. The Racine, Wisconsin native hit a layup to knot things at 38 early in the second half, then nailed a three-pointer to push Wisconsin ahead 65-62 with under seven minutes to play.

In fact, the Badgers never relinquished their lead after McGee’s first look from outside. His second, arguably the dagger of the contest, came with the Badgers leading by just one point with 2:54 remaining. The senior netted the look right in front of his bench to essentially seal the win.

On the season, McGee is averaging 7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists in over 23 minutes per game off the bench. His leadership, coupled with a clutch shot-making ability, make him one of the more integral pieces to one of college basketball’s hottest teams to start the 2024-25 season.

What Wisconsin coach Greg Gard, wing John Tonje said after Greenbrier Tip-Off win

What Wisconsin coach Greg Gard, wing John Tonje said after Greenbrier Tip-Off win

Wisconsin coach Greg Gard and star wing John Tonje addressed the media following the Badgers’ 81-75 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday.

For the first time since Wisconsin reached the NCAA Tournament final in 2015, the team is 7-0 and has scored 79 or more points in every win. To achieve that on Sunday, the Badgers needed to rally back from 14 down in the first half against a tough Pittsburgh team.

“Heck of a game against a really, really good team,” Gard said. “Not a great start for us offensively, but the resilience these guys showed being down 14 and not being able to get anything going offensively, they leaned into their defense even more.”

Wisconsin did just that. After posting 27 points in the opening frame off abysmal shooting splits, Wisconsin put together a 54-point second half and held the Panthers to under 16% from distance.

To correct that, Gard looked inward at UW’s offensive possessions during the first half.

“[In the] second half, we were able to get some things going,” Gard said. “I felt offensively we had to do a better job at shot selection,” Gard said. “We took some quick ones at times, we took some look twos… and then we go 0-of-10 from three for the first half. Analytically at halftime, we were getting what we wanted. We just needed a couple threes to go in.”

Fortunately, Wisconsin’s program is well aware of its culture. When those shots weren’t falling, Gard was able to lean on his depth to uplift stars like John Tonje and John Blackwell.

“You lean into your defensive when your offensive isn’t clicking like it has been,” Gard said. “Eventually, we got to the point where we were able to get to the free throw line.. The resilience of this group, the toughness of this group, the guts within this group in [Max] Klesmit, [Kamari] McGee and [Carter] Gilmore, those are the fighters that help in those situations. That’s the core of our program.”

Tonje, who dropped 33 points in the victory, was virtually un-guardable. The wing scored 25 of his 33 in the second half off 9-of-11 from the field and 8-of-8 from the free throw line.

“I was trying to be aggressive from the start,” Tonje said. “I didn’t shoot the ball well early, but I just kept with it. The primary defender on me had three fouls, so I was trying to be aggressive. A couple of the guys that were switching out on me had a couple fouls as well. I knew on the scouring report that they’re not necessarily as deep of a team, so we knew we had to take advantage of guys in foul trouble. So that was what I was looking for.”

The 7-0 Badgers will return to the Kohl Center on Nov. 30 for a game against Chicago State.

RECAP: John Tonje explodes for 25 second-half points as Badgers beat Pittsburgh to win Greenbrier Tip-Off

RECAP: John Tonje explodes for 25 second-half points as Badgers beat Pittsburgh to win Greenbrier Tip-Off

Wisconsin basketball squeezed past Pittsburgh 81-75 to pick up its seventh victory of the 2024-25 season on Sunday.

With the win, Wisconsin pocketed first-place at the 2024 Greenbrier Tip-Off. The tournament triumph is UW’s third non-conference November tournament title dating back to 2021 and it’s sixth since 2005.

For the second time this season, wing John Tonje spearheaded the Badgers’ offensive effort in historic fashion. The transfer wing scored 33 points off 11-of-19 from the field and a perfect 10-of-10 clip from the free throw line. Most notably, 25 of his 33 points arrived in the second half.

By no surprise, Tonje’s output earned him 2024 Greenbrier Tip-Off MVP nods.

Down by as many as 14 in the first half, the Badgers never wavered. UW opened the second half with an 11-2 scoring surge courtesy of five buckets from five different playmakers. Fueled by an unconscious Tonje, Wisconsin used that momentum to take a 51-50 lead at the 11:15-minute mark.

The score would seesaw until veteran guard Kamari McGee, who scored 10 points off the bench, canned a three-pointer to push Wisconsin ahead 65-62. Tonje would follow with a layup on the ensuing possession, and the Badgers did not relinquish their lead for the remainder of the game.

Pittsburgh did bring it to within one, 71-70, but the Badgers made timely shots when it mattered most. In the end, late-game shot-making and superstar contributions from one of college basketball’s most talented transfers proved the difference.

For the game, Wisconsin shot 48.3% from the field and 81.8% from the free throw line. In just the second half, UW scored 54 of its 81 points, shot 60% from the field, recorded 50% mark from the three-point line and registered a 92.9% clip from the free throw line.

John Blackwell added 14 points, three rebounds and two steals in the win, Nolan Winter scored 11, Kamari McGee accounted for 10 points off the bench and Steven Crowl snagged nine rebounds.

The Badgers’ start to the season is the program’s best since 2014-15, the year Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes led UW to the NCAA Tournament Title game. By the looks of it, this team could be special.

This crooked rim created chaos for NCAA tournament games and may explain Iowa State’s rough start

This doesn’t seem fair.

No. 6 Iowa State and No. 11 Pittsburgh had a delayed start to their first-round game in the NCAA tournament caused by a crooked rim at Greensboro Coliseum.

The Midwest Region game followed a wild comeback from No. 4 Xavier to survive an upset bid by No. 14 Kennesaw State. During the victory, with less than a minute left on the clock, Xavier’s Souley Boum missed a wide-open layup following a pass from teammate Colby Jones.

It was one of several crucial shots that didn’t fall for Xavier, who won the game despite the missed field goals. But the troubles may have continued into the following game considering Iowa State was not able to warm up as expected.

UPDATE: The NCAA issued a statement noting that Iowa State was offered additional warmup time but declined.

Although NCAA tournament officials made sure that the rim was level before the game finally tipped off, Pittsburgh was able to warm up before the game.

The Cyclones, however, were not. When the game finally started, Iowa State missed each of their first twelve attempts from the field and did not make any of their field goals until over ten games of game time had passed.

All five of the starters for Pittsburgh made field goals before a single player on Iowa State was able to connect. After trailing 21-2, the Cyclones went on a 17-4 run to cut the deficit to 26-19.

While we don’t know if this was the reason why the Cyclones had such a slow start, the two teams will switch rims at the end of the first half.

If the Panthers also struggle to connect from the field, it’s time that we all start to raise some eyebrows about whether or not the crooked rim was ever legitimately fixed.

Either way, however, it seems a bit unfair that Pittsburgh was able to warm up before the game but Iowa State was not given the same opportunity before tipoff.

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Jim Boeheim tried and failed to walk back his disrespectful comments about 3 other ACC teams

What a WEAK statement with no apology!

Jim Boeheim continues to dig his hole deeper and deeper.

A recent story with ESPN saw the Syracuse Men’s Basketball head coach talking about his future and, perhaps more notably, the state of college basketball on the whole. As concepts like NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals grow in popularity in college sports, the 78-year Boeheim showed he wasn’t a fan of their use.

The coach took it a step way too far in explicitly saying that programs like Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, and Miami all “bought” their teams, thanks in part to NIL deals. Woof, yeah, it’s not a great look:

“This is an awful place we’re in in college basketball,” Boeheim said. “Pittsburgh bought a team. OK, fine. My [big donor] talks about it, but he doesn’t give anyone any money. Nothing. Not one guy. Our guys make like $20,000. Wake Forest bought a team. Miami bought a team. … It’s like, ‘Really, this is where we are?’ That’s really where we are, and it’s only going to get worse.”

Does Boeheim have any citations to back up his disrespectful comments, or is he just upset that recruiting is now potentially more challenging?

This was how Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes responded to Boeheim’s out-of-line comments:

In the wake of Boeheim drawing heaps of criticism for his thoughts, the coach would issue a statement on Monday morning. It was both not an apology and Boeheim trying (emphasis: trying) to meekly walk back what he said:

Imply? There was no implication there! Boeheim’s were, again, explicit! What is he trying to pull here? The cat’s already out of the bag.

This is a situation where Boeheim might only find himself coming under more fire as time goes on. For example, ACC coaches do a media call every Monday. In other words, stay tuned.

Badger moments: Ethan Happ wins rock fight over Pittsburgh in 2016

Ethan Happ saves the day

In the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament, the Wisconsin Badgers did not have Bo Ryan on their bench. Everyone wondered if Greg Gard could continue to deliver the March results Ryan brought to Madison for more than a decade. Wisconsin had reached the Sweet 16 or better in four of the previous five NCAA Tournaments, and the Badgers had just made consecutive Final Fours in 2014 and 2015. As the 2016 Big Dance began, all eyes were on a new coach with a team which had scrambled and recovered well enough to get an NCAA tourney ticket, but whose prospects of going deep into the tournament were not great.

Wisconsin was a No. 7 seed which faced a tough challenge from a proven program — the Pittsburgh Panthers — and a proven head coach, Jamie Dixon. Pittsburgh didn’t make the Final Four under Dixon, but it gained No. 1 seeds in multiple seasons, reached the Elite Eight, and had established itself as a regular NCAA Tournament team, much as Wisconsin had in the 21st century. These programs could both identify with each other, having gone through many decades of mediocrity before roaring to life at the start of the century. This figured to be a tough game… and it was.

Oh, how it was.

Bronson Koenig didn’t hit a 3-pointer against Pittsburgh, marking the first time in 44 games he didn’t make at least one triple. Nigel Hayes was just 3 of 17 from the field. Wisconsin made only 4 of 19 3-pointers and missed 13 of its first 15 shots in this game. The Badgers needed over 15 minutes to score their first 10 points of the game. UW managed just 16 points in the first half.

In spite of all that… Wisconsin won.

Yes, it won.

Wisconsin limited Pitt to only three made 3-pointers and four made free throws. The Badgers were plus-5 in offensive rebounds (12-7) and plus-4 in turnover differential (6 committed, 10 forced). In a rock fight, every possession mattered… and Ethan Happ was the main influencer of these possessions.

Happ led Wisconsin in points (15), rebounds (9), and assists (3), doing everything for the Badgers. When Pittsburgh trailed 44-43 in the final minute and missed a go-ahead layup, Happ was there to get the defensive rebound and enable Wisconsin to hit three foul shots in the closing seconds to win.

Everything went wrong for Wisconsin on offense, but the Badgers’ defense and rebounding answered the call. If there were any questions about UW’s toughness in the NCAA Tournament under Greg Gard, they were answered in this game, four years ago in St. Louis.