Five days removed from their 2023 Fort Myers Tip-Off victory in Florida, the University of Wisconsin vanquished Western Illinois University in a 71–49 blowout.
Prior to the tip, Wisconsin honored UW forward Tyler Wahl for recently eclipsing the 1,000-point mark during his tenure as a Badger. The brief celebration heralded a wave of optimism to begin the contest — UW certainly capitalized on it.
Wisconsin opened the game on a 7–0 run and first-year wing AJ Storr erupted from the jump. The 6-foot-7 forward mustered 11 points through a combination of downhill penetration and outside jumpers. His scoring contributions excelled Western Illinois’ entire point total through 13 minutes of action.
The Leathernecks appeared undisciplined during most of the first half — Western Illinois accounted for 10 personal fouls through 14 minutes compared to just two for UW. The purple and gold failed to reach the foul line until five minutes before intermission and they would head into the half down by 16 tallies.
Wisconsin’s seven different scorers, coupled with a 52.2% mark from the field, told most of the first half story. UW simply outplayed its opponent and it seemed as if the Badgers would cruise to their third straight victory.
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Outside some early hiccups during the first 10 minutes of the second half, Wisconsin did just that. UW looked a bit sloppy and the cardinal and white appeared to loosen up after building such a significant lead.
After John Blackwell, who earned a Big Ten Freshman of the Week nod Monday, fouled Western Illinois’ James Dent Jr. on a 3-point attempt, the Badgers orchestrated a 15–2 scoring surge over a six-minute stretch.
“The start of the second half is something we will look at and see what we could have done differently there to get off to a better start,” Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said in his post-game press conference. “I’m happy for our guys to bounce back and to respond when we needed to.”
Gard, clearly upset with a lack of effort and uncharacteristic mistakes early in the second half, leaned into his veteran players during the latter portion of the contest.
UW 7-footer Steven Crowl dominated the glass en route to an efficient 13-point, 11-rebound double-double in 29 minutes on the hardwood. His five offensive rebounds also provided a much-needed boost — UW pocketed 17 second chance points while Western Illinois only scored five in that department.
Guard Chucky Hepburn, who was quiet for a majority of the game, riddled off five straight jumpers, including one ridiculous fadeaway look from deep which ignited a bench mob in the left corner.
Wahl poured in four buckets for 12 points and Storr ended with 13 tallies after his blistering start.
For Western Illinois, Dent Jr. scored 17 and big man Drew Cisse corralled 11 boards to go along with his eight points.
UW will welcome No. 3 Marquette University to a packed Kohl Center for an inter-state matchup Saturday, Dec. 2 at 11:30 a.m.
