Even after a frustrating end to the Wisconsin vs. Oregon game, the Badgers still have one of the most potent offensive attacks in college basketball. They rank among the top in many offensive metrics, and with a potential All-American and a candidate for Big Ten Player of the Year in John Tonje, a lot of noise is being made by this UW team.
When basketball analytics expert Evan Miyakawa dug into the stats of the top-performing duos in the game, he uncovered some surprising results. The Wisconsin pair should turn some heads.
Here are the top performing two-man duos in the country at https://t.co/cegyfz96ax based on team efficiency while they are on the floor together (limit one duo per team): pic.twitter.com/SdDTjpBLfi
— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) February 25, 2025
John Tonje and Carter Gilmore when on the floor together are ranked among the top duos in college basketball
Yes, you read that list right—one of the best duos in all of college basketball based on offensive efficiency is John Tonje and Carter Gilmore. Not many people expected it to be those two. Sure, we've celebrated the play of Gilmore and chanted "Gilly James" in the streets after huge wins when his ability propelled Wisconsin to victory, but it's surprising. Many would expect maybe John Tonje and Steven Crowl, or John Tonje and John Blackwell, or even Kamari McGee and a handful of others. But that's not the case—it's Gilly James and John Tonje.
"Adjusted Efficiency Margin is measured in points per 100 possessions, adjusted for opponent strength, minimum 350 possessions, top duo per team. "Evan Miyakawa
According to Miyakawa, this list represents the scoring efficiency based on 100 possessions, and the top duo in the game right now is scoring 39.4 per 100 possessions. That's the tandem of Viktor Lakhin and Dillon Hunter. The duo of Gilmore and Tonje is at 29.5 per 100.
Before you think that's low even for the leaders, it's not team scoring— it's when those two score. In other words, in 100 possessions for Gilmore and Tonje, they are going to score 30 points between the two of them in 100 possessions. However, there may be others on the floor scoring while they are playing together.
It is incredible to see that maybe the 7th or 8th man on the Wisconsin team is bringing such a huge boost to the Wisconsin team. Gilmore isn't a starter and is only averaging 18 minutes per game. In those minutes, he's a huge contributor.