Wisconsin basketball rolled past the UCF Knights 86-70 on Friday to pick up its sixth win of the 2024-25 season.
Unlike its previous two victories which were fueled by individual scoring outbursts from wing John Tonje and guard John Blackwell, the Badgers cruised to victory against UCF with swift ball movement and dominant team defense.
On the offensive side of the hardwood, the Badgers logged 21 assists, scored 38 points in the paint and had 10 of their playmakers scratch the scoresheet. Defensively, Gard’s unit held the Knights to just 34% from the field and 12% from the three-point line.
Blackwell spearheaded the scoring charge with 17 points off 6-of-10 from the field and 2-of-4 from deep. Tonje dropped 15, snagged six rebounds and dished out four assists, veteran guard Kamari McGee notched a season-high 14 points off 5-of-6 from the floor and sophomore center Nolan Winter registered 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in the blowout win.
Wisconsin practically sealed the deal in the first half. After UCF’s Darius Johnson cashed in on a layup inside at the 11:45-minute mark, Wisconsin orchestrated an extended 20-8 run to extend its edge to 21 points with 4:52 remaining before intermission.
Everything was clicking for UW. Wisconsin moved the ball seamlessly and found open men both near the painted area and outside the arc. The Badgers paired their interior attack with five looks from deep in the first half en route to a 15-point lead by the break.
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Winter and Tonje picked up right where Wisconsin left off in the second half to extend the lead to 20 within the first three minutes of the final stanza. Gard’s team maintained a 20-point advantage up until the final minutes of the contest.
Wisconsin improves to 6-0 on the young season with their first road victory of the season. UCF, meanwhile, drops to 4-1. Wisconsin will play its next game on Nov. 24 against Pittsburgh in the second leg of the Greenbrier Tip-Off.
