Despite being down starting shooting guard Max Klesmit due to an ankle injury suffered during Wisconsin's win at Rutgers on Monday, the Badgers cruised to a 21-point victory over Minnesota, marking the program's eighth straight win over the Golden Gophers.
Kamari McGee -- the team's de facto sixth man -- stepped into the starting lineup and made his first start for the Cardinal and White. McGee totaled 15 points, five rebounds, and three steals while playing a season-high 33 minutes. Steven Crowl paced the Badgers in points with 18 and added five rebounds and three assists. Encouragingly, Crowl went 2-for-2 on three-pointers, further boosting his three-point percentage after a slow start to the season. John Blackwell returned to earth after logging 32 and 21 points in his last two appearances, tallying nine points on 3-of-10 shooting. John Tonje was the only other Badger to reach double figures, scoring 16 points with six rebounds and three assists.
Dawson Garcia led Minnesota with 22 points and 10 rebounds and was the lone Golden Gopher to score more than eight points. Minnesota turned the ball over 14 times and was held to 38.6 percent shooting from the field.
Wisconsin scored 50 points in the second half and made eight of its 15 attempts from three-point range during the period to overcome a cold start to blow out the Golden Gophers and advance to 13-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
Another sluggish start as big favorites
Wisconsin put itself in early holes against inferior opponents early in the season, and while they seemed to put those issues to rest over the last few weeks, the Badgers of old showed up Friday.
They lost track of shooters on the defensive end, and the Golden Gophers made them pay, connecting on three of their first six attempts from distance en route to a 15-5 lead at the first media timeout.
Wisconsin looked to match Minnesota's three-point barrage, with seven of the Badgers' first 10 attempts coming from beyond the arc. However, they had much less success and made merely one of the seven shots.
Trailing by 10 points six minutes into a game in which they were double-digit favorites, Wisconsin came out of the first media timeout with some fire. They'd hold Minnesota scoreless for five minutes and score 10 points to make it 15-all midway through the first period.
Crowl chipped in the final five points of Wisconsin's burst, capping off the run with an and-one hook shot. The big man, who came into the contest averaging 16.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in his last four games, accounted for seven of Wisconsin's first 15 points, stepping up for the Klesmit-less Badgers.
Badgers battle to take halftime lead
After rebounding from the slow start, Wisconsin went into attack mode. They took control of the tempo and looked to strike in transition. Their efforts, headlined by McGee, forced Minnesota to yield open looks at the rim or send the Badgers to the line.
The Golden Gophers opted to make Wisconsin convert at the charity stripe. The Badgers went 7-for-7 at the line during the first half, with six of those makes coming in a four-minute stretch.
Still, Minnesota kept answering. Garcia and Odukale continued to gash the Badgers defense, combining for 22 first-half points and the Golden Gophers' final 12 points of the half. Their impact extended beyond scoring the basketball, with Garcia pulling in eight rebounds and Odukale logging three assists and three offensive rebounds.
It looked as though Wisconsin would enter the break tied or behind their Minnesota counterpart before Jack Janicki stepped up in the final two minutes. The redshirt freshman scored back-to-back buckets, following up on a missed layup by McGee and catching the Golden Gophers sleeping with a back cut for an easy lay-in.
Janicki's four-point spurt put the Badgers ahead 30-29 at halftime despite shooting 10-for-31 (32.3 percent) from the field and 3-for-13 (23.1 percent) from three-point land. Nine of the Badgers' first-half points came off Minnesota turnovers, as the Gophers committed eight turnovers -- just 1.9 fewer than their per-game average.
Wisconsin's offense hits its stride, cruises to win
Despite a poor shooting half, Wisconsin didn't hesitate to let it fly to start the second period. Nolan Winter, John Blackwell, and Steven Crowl all knocked down a triple, spurring a 13-2 run and suddenly giving the Badgers a 10-point lead with 16 minutes left to play.
Wisconsin would score in 10 of its first 12 possessions, going 7-for-10 from the field and making all five of its attempts from the charity stripe. But the offensive barrage didn't stop there, as Wisconsin would launch a 16-3 run -- highlighted by three and-one baskets -- then receive back-to-back three-point makes from Markus Ilver to extend the Badgers' advantage past 20 points.
Ilver assumed a larger role Friday with Klesmit sidelined, entering the regular rotation for the first time this season and playing seven minutes -- his second most on the year.
Wisconsin's lead grew to as many as 30 during the victory before a late burst from Minnesota's reserves made the difference slightly smaller. Still, the Badgers outscored Minnesota by 20 points in the second half and scored 80 points against Minnesota for the first time in 16 meetings, dating back to the 2013-14 campaign.
What's next
Wisconsin will look to extend its win streak to six games on Tuesday, Jan. 14, when they welcome Ohio State to the Kohl Center for an 8:00 pm CT tipoff.