MINNEAPOLIS – Despite coming into the game banged up and dealing with foul trouble throughout the entirety of the contest, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team took down the Big Ten’s top seed behind 22 points — including a game-tying layup to force overtime — from point guard Chucky Hepburn and a game-winning floater from guard Max Klesmit with seconds to spare in overtime.
Now riding a three-game win streak, it’s safe to say that UW is well past their February struggles.
“They’re playing their best basketball right now,” head coach Greg Gard said postgame. “This is where you want to be.”
And where they are is the Big Ten Championship game, a place UW hasn’t reached since 2017, with the opportunity to make another mark in the Badgers’ history books with an eighth Big Ten Tournament Championship appearance.
“[Winning a Big Ten Championship] was one of our main goals in the first place and we let it slide away,” forward Tyler Wahl said. “We’re not going to let it happen again.”
The team fought tooth and nail to pull out the victory — having 11 players touch the floor due to foul trouble and being without forwards Steven Crowl, Nolan Winter and Wahl for most of overtime.
Forward Carter Gilmore had his number called plenty down the stretch, providing a massive boost for UW. With the Badgers down one point with less than five minutes to play, Gilmore dove across the floor to grab a loose ball poked away by Hepburn and on the ensuing possession drilled a 3-pointer to take the lead.
“I knew my teammates needed me to make a play,” Gilmore said of the stretch. “When I got open, I heard the whole bench telling me to shoot that … I knew as soon as it left my fingers it was good.”
It was only Gilmore’s third 3-pointer of the season, coming in arguably the biggest game of the year to date. After the make, he turned to the UW bench and did a little celebration.
“I knew I’d get the bench boys into it for sure, and bring energy that we needed to finish that game.”
After missing Friday’s win over Northwestern with a lower body injury, Hepburn reclaimed his starting spot and finished with a season-high 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting while guard AJ Storr tallied 20 points (8-for-23 FG, 3-for-10 3Pt) and six rebounds. Klesmit finished with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists while Crowl scored 11 points (seven in the first half).
Zach Edey — who became the Boilermakers’ all-time leading scorer during Saturday’s game — accumulated 28 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. By himself, Edey attempted 10 more free throws than UW did, making 14 of his 19 attempts.
One of Edey’s misses at the charity stripe came with six seconds left in regulation, allowing for Hepburn to tie the game with a layup on the Badgers’ next possession and send it to overtime.
UW’s biggest calling card during the game was their defense, limiting Fletcher Loyer, Braden Smith and Lance Jones to a combined 8-of-24 shooting from the field while forcing 16 turnovers.
The turnover disparity proved critical for the Badgers, who went plus-11 in turnover margin and outscored Purdue 15–0 off turnovers. In fact, Klesmit’s game-winning floater was set up by Hepburn, who drew a charge on Smith with 20 seconds left.
But like Gard has said after each win in this tournament, UW will enjoy the victory for a few hours and then shift their focus on the next one. The Badgers will face off against the University of Illinois Sunday in the Big Ten Tournament Championship at 2:30 p.m. after the Fighting Illini downed the University of Nebraska 98–87 in the other semifinal matchup.
In their only meeting this season, UW lost 91–83 in the Kohl Center but were tied with under six minutes to play.
