National Basketball Association
Wisconsin 87, Texas Rio Grande Valley 84
When: 8:00 PM ET, Monday, November 18, 2024
Where: Kohl Center, Madison, Wisconsin
Officials:
# James Breeding, # Nate Harris, # D.J. Carstensen
Attendance:
13423
By Field Level Media
John Blackwell scored 20 of his career-high 30 points in the second half and graduate transfer John Tonje added 19 as No. 19 Wisconsin rallied to hold off stubborn UT Rio Grande Valley 87-84 on Monday night in Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin (5-0), which trailed 52-48 at the half, went without a field goal over the game's final 4:23 and scored its last 11 points from the free throw line. The Badgers, who entered No. 1 in the nation in free throw percentage (90 percent), finished 27-of-32 from the line.
Tonje, who played at Missouri last season, hit four consecutive free throws to put the Badgers in front 80-75 with 3:34 left. He hit two more free throws to make it 85-81 with 1:14 remaining and finished 10-of-10 at the stripe.
DK Thorn hit a deep 3-pointer with just over a minute left to pull the Vaqueros within 85-84. Max Klesmit missed a jumper on Wisconsin's next possession, but UTRGV's Hasan Abdul Hakim missed a hurried jumper from the lane with time running out.
Blackwell hit two free throws with 2.1 seconds left to make it 87-84.
Wisconsin entered the rankings this week after a 103-88 victory Friday over Arizona, which dropped from ninth to No. 17.
Abdul Hakim had 19 points and K.T. Raimey had 13 for the Vaqueros (3-3), who had won three straight.
Tonje, who had 41 points in the win over Arizona, hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to end a scoring drought of almost 4 1/2 minutes and put Wisconsin up 74-72 with 5:08 left.
Abdul Hakim hit a 3-pointer to put UTRGV up 61-54, but the Vaqueros went more than three minutes without scoring before Tommy Gankhuyag's 3-pointer put them in front 64-61 with just over 12 minutes to go.
Blackwell, who had 15 of Wisconsin's first 20 points after the break, hit a 3-pointer to put the Badgers up 68-66.
UT Rio Grande Valley hit 20 of 32 shots in the first half (62.5 percent), including 8 of 17 from 3-point range. Wisconsin stayed close by hitting 14 of 16 free throws before the break.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Texas Rio Grande Valley |
|
Wisconsin |
|
Hasan Abdul-Hakim 19 |
Scoring |
John Blackwell 30 |
|
Trey Miller 6 |
Assists |
John Blackwell 3 |
|
Hasan Abdul-Hakim 8 |
Rebounds |
John Blackwell 7 |
|
K.T. Raimey 4 |
Free Throws Made |
John Tonje 10 |
|
K.T. Raimey 2 |
Steals |
Xavier Amos 1 |
|
Cliff Davis 1 |
Blocks |
Max Klesmit 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Texas Rio Grande Valley
|
84 |
49.2 |
13-33 |
9-11 |
12 |
27 |
1 |
7 |
10 |
| Wisconsin
|
87 |
49.1 |
8-20 |
27-32 |
10 |
28 |
1 |
5 |
9 |
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