John Tonje arrived to Wisconsin as an unheralded transfer after a redshirt season at Missouri and four years at Colorado State.
He leaves with one of the greatest seasons in Wisconsin basketball.
Despite his best efforts, Tonje couldn’t get the Badgers into the Sweet 16. But he delivered a March Madness performance for the record books on Saturday night in Wisconsin’s 91-89 loss to BYU in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Tonje’s 37 points are the most ever for a Wisconsin basketball player in an NCAA tournament game.
Tonje, who scored 10 of the team’s final 13 points as the Badgers made their late push, wished he had a few more in the box score. He had the ball in his hands in the closing seconds with a chance to send the game into overtime but his contested shot along the baseline was off. And Wisconsin’s season was suddenly over.
But what a season it was for Tonje. A first-team All-Big Ten season. A second-team All-American season. A season where he etched his name in the UW record book from almost the moment he stepped on campus.
While the loss will sting for some time, Tonje’s special game and his one memorable season in Madison is still being celebrated with Badgers supporters and the college basketball world.
John Tonje 37 points vs BYU in March Madness: social media reactions
John Tonje just delivered one of the best individual seasons we’ve seen at Wisconsin. Flat-out stud. Best portal pickup in the country.
— Dillon Graff (@DillonGraff) March 23, 2025
John Tonje’s 37 points are the most in the NCAA tournament in #Badgers program history.
Also the only player in this entire tourney with 30+ points.
Heck of a season for the transfer.
Not at all unreasonable to call him the Russell Wilson of Wisconsin basketball.
— Andrew Bandstra (@andrewbandstra) March 23, 2025
I’ll remember John Tonje FOREVER. Gave us everything he had, with ZERO DRAMA. Put his head down, didn’t feed into the noise and just delivered.
Feel absolutely sick, for him, with that ending…doesn’t define what he did here whatsoever. He willed us into that ballgame, one…
— Gard Your Fickell (@GardYourFickell) March 23, 2025
John Tonje stats vs BYU
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Points: 37
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Shooting: 10 of 18
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3-point: 3 of 9
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Free throws: 14 of 16
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Rebounds: 4
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Assists: 4
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Turnovers: 0
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Minutes: 35
John Tonje: Was he the best transfer in the country in 2025? Here was his competition.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: John Tonje’s 37-point night vs BYU, season with Wisconsin celebrated
