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Wisconsin cruises to NCAA Tournament win over Montana
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Wisconsin was not messing around to begin the NCAA Tournament, and the Badgers came out with a strong statement against Montana to get things rolling.
As the 3-seed in the East Region, the Badgers were in the potentially treacherous 3-seed vs. 14-seed matchup. It’s an area where it seems at least one 3-seed finds itself in a dogfight every year, but the Badgers were not going to be that team.
At halftime, Wisconsin was holding a 40-32 lead, but any attempt by Montana was put to bed after the break. The Badgers scored 45 points in the 2nd half while shooting 62.5% in the period to methodically pull away for the 85-66 win in Denver. Their largest lead came at 21 points with just over a minute to go.
John Tonje did not have a bad game and finished with 15 points, but it was John Blackwell who led the team with 19 points. However, it was Steven Crowl who was particularly efficient in this one.
Crowl finished with 18 points and took advantage of the size advantage while finishing 8-for-10 from the floor. He added 4 rebounds and 2 assists as Wisconsin delivered 38 points in the paint and posted a +11 margin in rebounding.
With the win, Wisconsin will move on to face the winner of 6-seed BYU vs. 11-seed VCU on Saturday. The Badgers will be playing for their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2017 in that contest.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.