3-13-25 UW BASKETBALL VS NORTHWESTERN LOCAL POSTGAME SHOW

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome into the Jay and K Security Solutions basketball postgame show.
I'm your host Dave Gasper joined by Nick Bruce Wiz.
Wisconsin Badgers eliminate the Northwestern Wildcats from the Big Ten
Tournament with a seventy to sixty three win. You can
join the conversation with us on the hot line six.
So wait three, two, one thirteen ten. Well, the Badgers

(00:22):
weren't able to get themselves a double by in the
Big Ten Tournament. They advanced to the quarterfinals with a
much needed palette resetting win over the Northwestern Wildcats. Max
Klesmitt returned to the court to have an impact. Nolan
Winter also returned after leaving early against Penn State and
tied for a team high eighteen points. The three point
shooting looked better too in the second half, Nick, and

(00:45):
now things are looking a little brighter here in Badger Land.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, this is an absolute must win if you're a
Wisconsin basketball team that wants to take yourself seriously heading
into March and into the tournaments, right, so you had
to prove that you can still get it done against
lesser competition. The Badgers beaten Northwestern earlier this season, and
they did so again today rather handily, right, So the
final score will suggest it was closer than it really was,
especially in the second half, where the Badgers really just

(01:10):
took advantage of a Wildcats team that just didn't have
enough firepower. For a Wisconsin team that did find their
stroke from deep today.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah, Nick Martinelli tried to supply that firepower. Ended up
getting twenty two points and playing pretty well, but he
didn't have as much help as perhaps he needed. And Northwestern,
as we know, has dealt with a bunch of injuries.
Brooks Bahnheiser lost to a seasonning injury, another one of
their top players just decimated by injuries this year. Really
tough season for Northwestern and they're done here in the

(01:41):
Big Ten Tournament and Wisconsin moves on now to face UCLA. Yeah,
Wisconsin shooting better from three, that's exactly what they needed,
especially there in the second half when they kind of
started to figure some things out. Five of thirteen in
the second half thirty eight and a half percent, much
better than they had I've been first half a little bit,

(02:01):
you know, kind of kind of some more of the
struggles three of twelve, but being able to get some
things going was very important. Very great to see for
this Wisconsin team to try and build some momentum heading
into the Big Tournament. The Big Dance coming up soon
after this Big Ten Tournament is over. Paton Waukeshaw is
on the line, and I know he's got to be
happy after this Badgers win. Pat, how are you feeling today,

(02:23):
my friend, David Nick?

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Awesome win Big ten Tournament. Man, it doesn't get any
better than that. I got to watch it live. Just
it's always fun beating Chris Collins. I'm not sure, maybe
because he played at Duke. I'm not sure, but I
just love it when we beat them, and we did
it twice this year. So hey, we've won seventy five

(02:47):
percent of our games seven to fifty winning percentage twenty
four and eight. Pretty tough to beat that, especially after
the three guys that that transferred out after last year,
one of who's might be maybe in the n I
t The other two guys, their teams aren't even ranked,

(03:09):
so they got to kind of be regretting that move.
Just man, what a pick up. Just what a gutsy player.
It's gonna be fun to watch. We got h the
rest of the Big Ten Tournament and then put on
our dancing shoes and uh and and go for the
big dance. So I wouldn't be a Badger fan without

(03:32):
saluting the voice of the Badgers, Matt leape Uh. What
a cool tribute. In the pregame coach Ryan called in
and a number of the radio voices for Big Ten teams,
I know, Iowa, Michigan, I think Indiana, and I forget
the fourth one. Just really fun hearing what they said

(03:53):
about Maddie. So go Badgers, baby, love your show, Go
Red win it all.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Absolutely appreciate it, Pat, and yeah, just absolutely fantastic tribute
to Matt Lapey, just you know, an a one person,
a one broadcaster, just fantastic guy, absolutely deserving his induction
into the Badgers Athletics Hall of Fame. And Wisconsin just
being able to keep the winning ways going and get
themselves back in the win column, get that winning percentage

(04:19):
up there, and Wisconsin doing it. You know, Tonjay, as
Pat mentioned their nick Toanjay with eighteen points unanimous All Team,
First Team All Big Ten this year, john Tonjay just
came up, so he was kind of kept quite a
bit in the first half and the second half. He
really helped Wisconsin pull away.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, Tonjay did what he needed to do. Seven to
fourteen from the field is a great clip for a
guy who hadn't necessarily been shooting his best recently. There's
much more to be desired, but his ability to get
onto the boards right, So seven rebounds will lead this
game in terms of tying to Wildcats Nick Martinelli and
Matt Nicholson.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
You look at what.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
He did on the board, seven rebounds today, John Tomjay.
That just proves his aggressive nature and his ability to
come find a way to compete and really contribute to
a big win for the Badgers and him and Nolan
wins here today really just the two stars four Wisconsin
in terms of offensive output. But welcoming Max Klesman back
into the lineup, I think just made a huge difference.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Absolutely. You could tell early on. You could tell in
the first half the ball movement was so much better. Uh,
the way the offense was flowing, they were actually flowing.
They were able to get into a flow with Max
klothesmanth there that we haven't seen him in these last
couple of games, and that was just such an important
sight to see. Not only was it great just for

(05:42):
a Badger's win, but just for the belief in this team,
because over the last couple of days, you know, you
have the loss to Oregon, you have the lost of
Penn State. It's like, okay, you know, this team seems
like it's kind of teetering. Can they really make a run?
We've thought of it, We've thought all season that they could.
They have the talent to But now that it's coming
to March, you know, it seems like they're scuffing a
little bit. But you get Max Klezmant back, and I

(06:05):
think this is going to calm some of those concerned.
Just nine points in this game, but I mean three
of five shooting two of three from the free throw line.
Klusmant had definitely a big impact in this game. And
just how everything flowed, how everything looked, and it results
in a seven point win. And you know, a healthy Cleusman,
a healthy Winter, this whole rotation, it all flowed exactly

(06:29):
as it should and once again, Nick, as we've seen
all season, it results in a nice, big win.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Huge for the Badgers, right, and I think that they
now can shift their focus and get ready to go
for a rematch against UCLA tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
That's the big one.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
If they can win that game, you have to have
a lot of confidence. They have confidence coming out of
today beating a Northwestern team that won yesterday. It's not
like it was nothing, but you want to consider where
Wisconsin was just a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
To get some of that mojo back, today's step in
the right direction.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Tomorrow would be a huge step to getting back on
track as you want to feel confident that they can
end up in Milwaukee, and they're pretty close with Iowa
State losing today to BYU, that's a huge win for
the Badgers and then Purdue. If they can find a
way to lose tonight to USC, the Badgers would pretty
much have the fast track to being in Milwaukee starting
the national Tournament next week.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, and that's exactly what you'd love to see if
you're the Badgers. But first you got to get through
UCLA in the next round of the Big Ten Tournament.
We'll talk more about that matchup coming up. On the
other side, We've also got fun facts with Davia that
were coming up as well, so you're.

Speaker 5 (07:41):
Not going to want to miss those. That's all coming up.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Wisconsin wins in the in their second round of the
Big Ten Tournament. Here they win their first matchup over
Northwestern seventy to sixty three.

Speaker 5 (07:54):
A lot more coming up here.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
You're listening to the JANK Security Solutions basketball postgame Show.

Speaker 6 (08:05):
Nolan could use a little help. Fineskrow feeds Max wide
of the circle. What's it on the deck? Steps back,
He'll snap.

Speaker 5 (08:11):
Off at three.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Nailed it.

Speaker 6 (08:13):
Max Klesman with us first triple the day fifty three
forty two wisconcert.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
Welcome back to the jan K Security Solutions Basketball postgame Show.
Jane K Security Solutions from home theaters to smart lighting
to a universal home control. Go online to jksecurity dot com.
Dave Gasper here with you alongside Nick Bruce which the
Badgers are winners over the Northwestern Wildcats seventy sixty three.
John Tonjay eighteen points, Nolan Winter eighteen points to lead

(08:43):
the way for the Badgers. Max a Colusmant with nine,
John Blackwell with eight, Stephen Krow with seven seven points
and seven rebounds.

Speaker 5 (08:50):
And a technical foul for Stephen Krowe.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
We got a little bit of a feisty Stephen Crowe
there after a block.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
Yeah, it was incredibly he said, get that blank out
of here.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
They caught it clean on the television audio and the
broadcasters were certainly surprised to hear that.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah, well, it's that's the aggressive side of Stephen Crowe.
That's like, we want to see that attitude. We want
to see that aggressiveness, maybe not necessarily resulting in technical fouls,
but we like we like to see that, you know,
we want to.

Speaker 5 (09:21):
See the attitude. We want to see the fire in
Stephen Crowell.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
No, it was incredible. Big Steve did what he needed
to do there. I would have said the exact same thing.
For what it's worth, it was a good time and
he deserved to celebrate a little bit because today he
didn't have much to really hang his hat on.

Speaker 4 (09:37):
On the offensive end, seven points is just fine.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
They didn't need much more. Seven point seven rebounds rock
solid production for Stephen Krowell. But the one block is big.
I think Steve's a huge key to what they're gonna do.
That's a pretty obvious statement, but the reality is if
you can get some mojo going, some confidence rolling with him,
it can only help. So let's see what he can
do against UCLA. Maybe he'll get a second shot at Mara,

(10:01):
who had a career day against the Badgers in January,
and the Badgers are gonna look for a vege and
Steve's got to be a big part of that. He's
been in these tournaments, He's seen the disappointment, he's felt.
The disappointment he goes Wisconsin hasn't necessarily delivered at any
point during his career.

Speaker 4 (10:16):
This time of the season.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah, he's so important to what this team is gonna do.
Him and Nolan Winter, I mean, both of the bigs
four Wisconsin. It's so crucial to have them both operating
in their roles that they work so well off of
each other with the size that they have. Winter got
the big scoring totals today with eighteen points on four
of five, shooting nine of ten from the free throw line.

(10:39):
Get into the free throw line quite a bit for
Nolan Winter. But yeah, getting crowd going and having that
kind of size advantage over these guys, and that's gonna
be so crucial to this team's success as it has
been all season. And yeah, taken on Mara, I mean
that was kind of the big the big thing the
first time around. They brought the seven foot guy off

(10:59):
the's averaging like three four points a game and he
goes off for twenty yeah or whatever it was.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I got a stat line right in front of me,
right he had twenty two and five twenty two points,
five rebounds, and he was a problem for Wisconsin. They
couldn't have scouted in him much because he hadn't played
a lot, as you've referenced.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Now now, yeah, and now I think now they've got
the film on him, they're aware of him. I think
they're going to have a much better plan for him
this time around, because you're gonna have to you're gonna
if you're gonna get this win, if you're going to
advance it and probably put yourself in a better position
to secure that Milwaukee spot for the for the NCAA Tournament,

(11:41):
as we've kind of alluded to, and maybe trying to
improve their seed line. Right now, they're kind of teetering
on a four seed, maybe a three seed, depending who
you're looking at, but kind of right around there. If
you can get a win against UCLA and advance to
Saturday's action in the Big Ten Tournament, I think you
got yourself firmly back up into that three seed line.

Speaker 5 (12:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Absolutely, And that's where they should be had they not
faltered over the last couple of games to end the
regular season, and people will look at Minnesota as a win,
and it was a win, but then the regular season,
the Badgers didn't necessarily play that well at Minnesota, and
you know today they played pretty well. First half was
you kind of felt like it was gonna be a
path down or a trip down the path that we

(12:23):
had already been seeing. And then they got out of it.
In the second half. They really changed the production that
they had on the offense end, in particular, they ramped
it up defensively. They tied in total points in the
second half. But that's just kind of miss I mean,
you can misconstrue what that really was because they were
up by seventeen and then Northwestern ends on a little
bit of.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
A ten ten point run, twelve to two run.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yeah, and you know that that was the point where
Wisconsin already kind of had the game in hand. You know,
John Tanjay, you know, kind of has has a dunk
there and has a bit of a layup and they go, Okay,
everyone kind of knows where this is going. And that's
kind of thing too, because Northwestern didn't foul at the end.
And typically when you have like a close enough game,
it's like, okay, we get there. It's a seven point game,

(13:08):
you'd think Northwestern would be fouling. It's like, okay, let's
see if we can get there. But no, it was
just okay that they kind of put a couple of
buckets in. They got the seniors in at the end
and emptied the benches, and Wisconsin's like, okay, let's let's
move on. We got this one in hand. Get ready
for UCLA and that's going to be coming up. So

(13:30):
that's gonna be the most crucial thing really for Wisconsin.
You had to have this win in order to kind
of keep some positive momentum and keep positive views of
you heading into the NCAA tournament and of yourself being
able to get that going. Seeing a couple of threes
go in, which they were able to do in this game,
eight of twenty five from three thirty two percent, so
much better than we've seen in a lot of these

(13:52):
recent games. And now comes kind of the bigger test
to see if they can advance it against UCLA, and
that's going to be coming up here tomorrow at the
same time, right around around one thirty years is when
it's gonna be tipping off, provided, you know, depending on
how long the first game goes with Michigan State and Oregon,

(14:14):
I believe, and then Wisconsin's right after that, and that's
gonna be a lot of fun. It just is, it's
gonna be a lot of fun to have. And that
just means we're gonna have some more fun facts. Hey,
have you ever heard me?

Speaker 4 (14:26):
Here's the term fun fact.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
I got a couple of fun facts here because I.

Speaker 4 (14:31):
Have a fun fact, you have a fun fact.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
I do first time in history this has happened up
eight games, five turnovers, and he's recorded thirty five assists.
Been a long time since we've seen a game like this.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
The fun out here, This game's fun.

Speaker 7 (14:46):
Okay, fun? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (14:49):
Are you fired up? Fired up for fun facts with
Dave Right?

Speaker 1 (14:56):
So some fun facts to get to after this Badgers
seventy sixty three win in the Big Ten Tournament. The
Badgers have won at least one Big Ten Tournament game
in six of the last eight seasons, so they're just
continuing to has some success in Indianapolis or wherever it
is that they're having the Big Ten Tourney.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
They should thank me because the last two times that
they didn't win a.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
Game I was there.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Oh okay, so Nick, you're not allowed on any road
trips to the Big Ten.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
The Big Ten Tournament.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
I went in twenty twenty two when they lost after
a double by They lost to Michigan State.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
Johnny Davis was part of that team, and then the.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Following year they lost in the first round against Ohio State.
So yeah, both times I went to the Big Ten
Tournament in the media capacity, they lost in their only matchup.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, this is why you're not making it out any
more of those anymore of those trips there, Nick. John
Tanjay named unanimous First Team All Big Ten this year.
Tan Jay's the badgers eighteenth first team All Big Ten
players since the bow Ryan era really began, trailing only
perdue for most in.

Speaker 5 (16:10):
That spans a lot of subsets.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
Therefore, Wisconsin a lot of great players coming through. The
Badgers now have a four game winning streak against Northwestern
and Wisconsin, you know, the holding the Wildcats to sixty
three points in this game. Dating back to last year,
the Badgers are now thirty three and one, holding opponents
to less than seventy points over the last year.

Speaker 5 (16:35):
And a half.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
So this kind of shows that defense, it shows up
quite a bit, and it generally generally works for him
for a win.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, get stop.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
You know, the defense has always been what people perceive
the Badgers to be most well suited to play. And
this year they've seen their great offensive production, and now
is the season's gone on, defense has ramped up, and
than not, they're performing and today was a great one.

Speaker 5 (17:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
And if you're wondering that one loss was to Michigan
earlier this year, back then I thought third, Yeah, sixty seven,
sixty four, that one at the Cole Center. But all
the other times, w's all right. And a final fun
fact here, Northwestern in this game had as many field

(17:24):
goals made as personal fouls. Twenty fouls in this game
by Northwestern, twenty field goals made. That's not generally a
recipe for winning if you're a basketball team. Wyndham four files,
Mullins four files, Martin Ellie three, Clayton three, Sherevino three.

(17:44):
A lot of fouls on that Northwestern side, and it
got Wisconsin the free throw line quite a bit, and
once again Wisconsin takes advantage of them.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, well done, Wisconsin. Way to force those files that
Northwestern really struggled to stop them. So in this one,
it was early double bonus or excuse me, early bonus
in both halves. In the second half in particular, it
was right away it felt like they were just racking
up those files and putting themselves in a tough spot,
and their coach did their best, tried to get Max
Klesman ejected at one point, but it didn't work. Simply

(18:16):
didn't work. Nothing that they did worked against the Badgers,
especially down the stretch.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, and that's yeah, that was a kind of a
tough moment, but thankfully Max Klusman was not ejected. There
wasn't any of that.

Speaker 5 (18:30):
There.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
There was a little bit of a tension going on
their shrief Chambliss and Joe Gravanov keeping Max Klusman away.
But yeah, some technical fouls assessing this one. It was
it was chippy a little bit Wisconsin Northwestern and you know,
you wouldn't normally think of it that way between these
two schools, but it was so you like to see
the fire and the guys, I mean, this is March.

(18:51):
It brings out the competitive fire and all these players,
uh Northwestern, they know they're battling for their lives if
they want to to have a solid chance of making
the tournament. They know they needed to win and they
weren't able to get it done, and it can be
frustrating and it gets to you know, some some fired
up players.

Speaker 4 (19:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Absolutely, this is a matchup that you know, as closer
than people think geographically, right, so this might be the
Badger's closest opponent in terms of total mileage.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
So this could become a greater rivalry.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
If Northwestern ever becomes more of a consistent basketball team.

Speaker 4 (19:29):
But right now, the Badgers still kind of own it.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah, they really do, and they've owned really kind of
the series throughout its history of The Badgers lead the
overall history against Northwestern one twenty five to sixty seven,
and they've won their last four in a row, and
they had they lost both games in twenty twenty three
to Northwestern, but then prior to that they had won
five in a row. So you know, it's it's it's

(19:54):
a pretty solid stretch for the Badgers against Northwestern. And
now they're gonna be moving on to uc LA and
that's gonna be played down there in Indianapolis. Also in Indianapolis,
is our friend Nick Osin from twenty four to seven Sports.
He's gonna be joining us on the other side. We're
gonna get his thoughts on this Badgers win as he
talked to the coaches and the players after this one

(20:16):
and what he saw down there in Indianapolis. As Wisconsin
moves on to live another day in the Big Ten
Tournament with a seventy to sixty three win over Northwestern
that's coming up. You're not gonna want to go anywhere.
This is the jan K Security Solutions basketball postgame show.

Speaker 6 (20:37):
Gee High on the left will thrown a blackwell along
the left sideline, tosses the crowd, give a m Klesman
high and the right match scribbling, and he throws it
over to McGee left quarter three. Good again, Comarri McGee
his second hire from the left pocket today at his
fifty six forty two Wisconsint.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Welcome back to the jan K Security Solutions cake ball
postgame show from home Security to Automation j and K
Security Solutions as you covered but at jksecurity dot com
for more info. Dave Gasper here along with Nick Brucewitz,
and now we are joined by Nick Osen of twenty
four to seven Sports. He is there in Indianapolis covering
this team, covering this game, this Badgers win seventy sixty

(21:21):
three over Northwestern, and Nick we've talked a lot about
Max Klesmant and his departure, you know, not having him
these last couple of games, and Nolan Winter not being
able to play most of that Northwestern game. But Klusmant
Winter back in the lineup today. Obviously. I mean we
can look at the stats that they put up, we
can look at the win. But when you watched this

(21:44):
team today and you watch close Mint Winter be back
out there, how how was this team different in this
game than we've seen him in the last couple.

Speaker 7 (21:54):
Guys, these two being back for this group were huge,
you know, first and foremost, I think I'll focus on
Klus just got to speak actually with both of these players,
Bud what he brings defensively and just kind of that
edge and that attitude. Coach Guard spoke about it a
little bit this week. I really think it's evident, and
I think you saw it on that follow from Martinelli
on Gilmour. I think he really kind of stood up

(22:15):
for his teammate a little bit and just bring some
of up fire that you need and have really seen
in some of these great Wisconsin teams as per Winter.
We know on mister Optimus with you guys, and I'm
not sure I thought that he would be this good
this early in his career. I was watching that player today.
That's a future NBA player if he continues to develop.
So I just felt like his catch and release, the

(22:38):
quick shooting ability, stretching the floor, and even some of
his defense really impressive, guys. And this is why we
talk about went healthy, this team can go very far
in March and today I think you saw that, even
after kind of that sloppy start, how they eventually got
up fourteen sixteen came away with the wins.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Nick, I thought it was interesting likely based off the
matchup that Vicky was the guy.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
That absorbed that eighth man minutes.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
Right, So when Klesmant was healthy and Kamari was available,
JANICKI wasn't necessarily seeing a ton of minutes. He clearly
has earned himself a pretty big role now in the
stretcher on eighteen minutes today, Nick.

Speaker 7 (23:15):
He're exactly right, you know, I know we've talked about
his potential. I think it was after one of his
really impressive outings, maybe at Purdue or one of the
games following, but what I thought he could be next year,
and I think this just shows it, Like even though
he didn't score a ton, I think he only took
one shot. Just the trust that the staff really has
in this young player. I think his floor is so

(23:36):
high when he steps out on the court. He's good
at a lot of things. Maybe not just one thing
will pop out at you, but I think just the
trust at such a young spot in his career, the
ability to defend, create, rebound, shoot as we've seen at
his best. I think of games like Purdue and at Minnesota.
I think it's impressing. And I think when the rotation
does shrink a little bit, I still feel like Amos

(23:59):
will still be in there. But yeah, I think your
Nikki is solidified in that top do win or eight
guys just because of how many things he can do well.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
All I wants next, Nick, you mentioned the fire, the competitiveness,
the passion that the Max klusmt brings and that energy
coming in and Steven Krowd brought himself a little bit
of attitude today as well. I mean just seven point
seven rebounds, but a technical foul after a block and
some trash talk, and I was telling.

Speaker 5 (24:29):
Nick this, I like it.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Okay, I don't necessarily like it in technical, but I
like the fire, you know, trying to get that competitiveness,
that anger will get angry Steve. Okay, get a little
bit of attitude and Steve and you know, you get
some blocks, he gets some good thing. Did you like
what you saw there from Steve day?

Speaker 7 (24:46):
Without a doubt, I think you hit on a lot
of good things, and more than anything, I just felt
like in the short clip that I saw after because
obviously I'm writing the story throughout the game too, but
that was not worthy of a technical from what I
saw from tweets that I saw in the replay, basically
just something the players say all the time after getting
a block, but absolutely no issue with that. I think

(25:09):
a fiery Steve is really good. Look as long as
this team isn't playing out of control, I don't mind
three four five guys playing with a lot of fire,
because again, the best team isn't always going to win
in March. You've got to be good, you've got to
be cohesive, but you have to have that level of
kind of fire and competitiveness, especially when you will see
games where teams do not shoot well. We've seen it

(25:30):
all the time in March and April, and at times
like that, often it comes down to simply who wants
it more, who's able to be a little bit more
physical and motivated. I like that side of Steve Dave.

Speaker 4 (25:39):
I really do tick talking about shooting it well.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
The Badgers, I don't even know if they shot it well,
but they shot better than they had been from deep right.
So today they made eight of twenty five right around
thirty two percent. They were shooting right around twenty four
percent prior to today in their last handful of contests, So
it's a step in the right direction. Shot selection, and
what did you make of it? And what did you
see if they are maybe gonna snap out of a funk?

Speaker 7 (26:04):
Yeah, I love that question. Nick. I actually thought that
the shot selection was nearly perfect. I can think of
one probably bad three in the first half, another contestant
one in the second that I'm sure coach guard didn't love.
But those other twenty two to twenty three I thought
were open. I thought we're in rhythm. I can think
of a couple at the top of the key or
even a corner three or two that were just really

(26:26):
good looks that didn't go. But then there was a
stretch in the second half where it looked a little
bit more like the Wisconsin team we've become accustomed to
this year. I wrote it in my story at one
point fifty percent from deep in the second half, I
think they hit five of their first nine, certainly five
out of the first ten in the second frame. That's
gonna get you a lot of wins in March. So
I thought that after maybe the first five or six

(26:48):
minutes of the game, shot selection was perfect. Guys were driving.
I think of pleasant blackwell creating for others really good stuff. Nick.
And again I can live with miss shots, and sure
coach guard in the team can as long as there's
smart shots. And I thought that the selection today was
quite good. I'd really give it like a B plus
a minus easily from Deep.

Speaker 5 (27:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
One of those smart shots too, is I think always
Kamari McGee in the corner whenever he's there. In the
three he had, he had two corner threes today and
made them both, and it's just it's almost automatic really
for Kamara McGee, like that has been like his spot,
and now that he's kind of back in his role

(27:29):
off the bench with with Klesman coming back, you know,
it feels like, you know, he's hitting it maybe a
bit more in rhythm because he's in that role that
he's comfortable in. Is that kind of what you were
seeing with the spark that McGee was providing there.

Speaker 7 (27:42):
David, I couldn't agree more. I think it's a really
good observation that I think yourself and some of us
have seen recently that MARII McGee good player, really good player,
but I think he's perfect in that spark role. And
I think that's actually something that I wrote down kind
of during the game too. It felt like when the
offense was so stagnant and shots weren't coming, there was
a possession where he was just able to kind of

(28:04):
slither through a couple of defenders and hit a layup
off balance, and that kind of got guys going a
little bit or at least attack like that. The corner threes,
like you said, those feel like a lay up. The
time when we were missing and when we've seen misses
from him in the last couple of games, it surprised
a little bit. But now he's got more energy. He
can play that perfect sixth man role right next to

(28:25):
Carter Gilmour, and with that you see a lot of success.
I think that the team around him loved him in
that role as well.

Speaker 4 (28:32):
Dave Nick.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Last time the Badgers saw Ucla, it was quite a matchup, right,
both teams are pretty solid on the defense end. Yet
it was eighty five to eighty three with UCLA taking
the win, and the Badgers went fifteen of thirty from
deep in that game, so shooting was no problem. It
was a defensive end, and specifically a die Mara that
costs Wisconsin issues. But both teams are different versions of

(28:56):
themselves since they last matched up in January, and UCLA
has been playing really really strong basketball. Nick, what do
the Badgers need to do tomorrow to continue this run
in the Big Ten Tournament into Saturday.

Speaker 7 (29:09):
Yeah, I think first and foremost, limiting post touches a
guy like Mara. He has not had that type of
impact in too many games. I know we talked about
that around that time, that it was a little bit surprising,
but still they've got multiple guys, whether it's in the
post or kind of in that dunker spot. Amara villadeout
daily that can really make an impact. So they need

(29:30):
to obviously continue to play defense like they generally have,
and then I think just continue this type of shot selection.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
Nick.

Speaker 7 (29:36):
You know, I've kind of gone into this week thinking
it was a good matchup for Wisconsin, not great, but
that if they could get past the Bruins, I personally
have picked Wisconsin to get to Sunday. If they can
do that, I expect a decent Badger's contingent of fans
to be here tomorrow. Those are a couple of things
I'm really looking for, mostly curious who's favorite. Like I
personally would think Wisconsin maybe by one or two points,

(29:59):
but it should be real only close. Like you mentioned,
Ruins have been playing good ball since February, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (30:04):
They have.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
And you know, now as we kind of turn to
you know that there's this tournament and there's also the
next one. Obviously this one was important for Wisconsin to
kind of get some momentum back on their side. But
when it comes to this game tomorrow, now that Wisconsin
has moved on, where do you think, you know, when
we look at the seed lines, you know, three four,

(30:25):
you know, Wisconsin kind of sitting around three or four
right now? Where could a win tomorrow put them?

Speaker 5 (30:31):
Where?

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Would a lot would have lost tomorrow hurt them a
little bit in the seating? Would it keep them from
getting a three? How do you think tomorrow's game is
going to impact the seed lines?

Speaker 7 (30:40):
Yeah, it's a huge game in terms of seeding. Quite honestly, Dave,
it'd be probably the second biggest possible matchup other than
obviously potentially MSU on Saturday. So from my understanding, and
I've been diving into this a lot, I think since
they took care of business today so they didn't hurt themselves,
they can't really take a bad loss or now. I

(31:01):
don't see them being lower than a four. And I
think that because Iowa State loss today, if Wisconsin wins tomorrow,
they will be in the conversation still for that low three.
And if they continue to advance get a little bit
of help, I'm of the belief they can play themselves
back in the Milwaukee. Not a guarantee, nothing written in stone,
but that's kind of what I'm tracking. So it's like

(31:22):
today prevented basically catastrophe, and now going forward, even a
Losch tomorrow it wouldn't be great, but that wouldn't kill
them because UCLA is obviously a shuretfire attorney team as well.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Nick Oson of twenty four seven Sports. As always, we
appreciate you hopping on after each game, and we'll be
able to talk to you again tomorrow after the.

Speaker 7 (31:45):
Game, hopefully all weekend, guys, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Hopefully there, he goes Nick Oson of twenty four to
seven Sports, Joining us here on Jank Security Solutions Basketball
postgame show. The Badgers win seventy to sixty three. They
will advance to take on the UCLA Bruins, the four seed,
the team that got that coveded double by That's the
spot that the Badgers were trying to get but couldn't
quite get there with their loss to Penn State. So

(32:12):
now they get their matchup and they're gonna be taking
on the UCLA Bruins.

Speaker 5 (32:15):
So that's gonna be coming up tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
We'll have more on that coming up on the other
side as well.

Speaker 5 (32:21):
Keep it right here.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
This is the jan K Security Solutions Basketball postgame show.

Speaker 6 (32:33):
Well for the pass for Tanjay outside left feeds, Hillmore
sends it back to Tanja high on the left. Don
j Bolbing now driving down the lane to the remedy
rips it down with the right hand, who just snap
that bad boy through?

Speaker 4 (32:50):
I would say that's putting pressure at the ref. I
would say maybe that's the definition.

Speaker 6 (32:55):
That is above average pressure at the ref. Sixty eight
to fifty one, Wisconsin five to play.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Welcome back to the jan K Security Solutions Basketball postgame show.
Jan and K Security Solutions can give you the power
you never thought possible. Learn how J and K can
integrate your world. Visit jksecurity dot com. Dave Gasper here
with you alongside Nick Bruce with trying to put together
an above average show with the above average pressure at
the rim there from john Tonjay and the Badgers as

(33:24):
they get the seventy sixty three win over Northwestern and
that allows them to move on to face UCLA in
the next round here in the quarterfinals of the Big
Ten tournament and Nick, as we just kind of finished
talking about with Nick Osen, this is going to be
a very big matchup, one of the biggest potential games

(33:46):
for Wisconsin. And when it comes to their NCAA tournament resume,
you know, can this team be peaking at the right time,
can they be playing some of their best basketball at
the right time, and UCLA is really going to be
that test. They've put together other very good team this season,
and this was a game that earlier in the year
when Wisconsin faced them, it ended in a loss. It

(34:09):
was a two point loss, was a close game at UCLA.
Now at a neutral court and you're in Indianapolis, you know,
a bit further out from UCLA, that maybe could give
Wisconsin a bit of an edge.

Speaker 4 (34:23):
Yeah, I think it could. I do believe what Nick said.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
Nick Osen in our previous segment had to say was
that it's gonna be a pretty close I don't know
what the margin is. I don't know what the spread is.
But Wisconsin's got an opportunity again to win. And now
you've got to start fighting those demons inside your brain
of is it even better for the Badgers to win, right,
because everyone feels like this Big Ten tournament takes it
out of you before the national tournament. I want the

(34:49):
Badgers to win, of course, but if they make it
all the way to Sunday and then fall flat in
the first round of the national Tournament, then I don't
know if I'm gonna beat Well, what.

Speaker 5 (34:57):
Does it matter? Right?

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Because because that's the that's the big tournament everyone's worried about.
But still that's that's still a couple of steps away.
You got to get through Ucla. Then you gotta face
likely Michigan State. That was another, you know team that
Wisconsin ended up losing to earlier on this season. But
still Wisconsin, that's gonna be their next game tomorrow, taking

(35:21):
on the UCLA Bruins, and they've got to get themselves,
get themselves a win and try and keep it going
and try and keep them momentum swinging.

Speaker 5 (35:31):
So they'll do it for us.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
We'll be back again tomorrow right around the same time
when the Badgers game comes to and and Doug Russell
will be filling in for me on that show, so
he'll be joining you Nick as well. So that's going
to be a lot of fun as Wisconsin try to
keep their Big Ten Tournament championship hopes alive taking on
UCLA once again. The final score today Wisconsin's seventy Northwestern

(35:55):
sixty three. Thank you for listening. This has been the
j K Security Solutions Basketball I'll postgame.

Speaker 6 (36:00):
Show, Daniel free Tag will dribble it up the floor uncontested.
The Badgers will advance, hard thought as usual against Northwestern,
but the Badgers emerge victorious. It'll be Wisconsin and UCLA
tomorrow here in Indianapolis,