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The Wisconsin Badgers' 2024-25 season came to an end on Saturday night in Denver, Colorado.
UW, which defeated Montana 85-66 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, suffered a 91-89 defeat to No. 6-seed BYU in the round of 32. Wisconsin trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half. While the team never relented and nearly completed an improbable comeback, that comeback fell short in the closing seconds.
Fueled by 37 points, four rebounds and four assists from star wing John Tonje, Wisconsin orchestrated an 11-2 scoring surge in the final 2:11 minutes of action to turn an 11-tally margin into a two-point deficit. Tonje, who carried the Badgers offensively down the stretch, dropped eight of his 26 second-half points during the run to give Wisconsin the ball with an opportunity to tie in the game's closing moments.
With roughly four seconds to go on the game clock, Tonje launched a contested fadeaway jumper from the right side of the tin. The look fell short, and BYU grabbed the rebound and dribbled it out for the win.
The Cougars' 49.2% shooting clip from the field, 46.2% mark from deep and 93.8% from the charity stripe, coupled with eight more rebounds and 11 more assists, proved the difference. BYU also received 24 important points from its bench, supporting top options Richie Saunders, Trevin Knell and Egor Demin. Wisconsin, meanwhile, received only three.
Wisconsin did improve on the offensive end in the second half, plus received sizable contributions from both John Blackwell and Max Klesmit to assist Tonje. However, a poor performance in the first half and a lack of consistent offensive distribution plagued Greg Gard's group.
Gard addressed the assembled media after the loss. Here's everything the Wisconsin coach had to say after yet another first-weekend exit.
"The flurry, the heart and complete grit that we showed to make a comeback like that, to have a chance in the last possession, is a credit to the young men I’ve got in the locker room. And these three [John Tonje, John Blackwell and Steven Crowl] that I have to my right. I have been doing this a long time, almost 35 years. As I told them, watching them grow together from the time we got together in June to now may have been the most fun, enjoyable year in my career. We were highly doubted early. We weren't even supposed to be in this tournament, supposed to be finishing 12th in the Big Ten maybe. This group just bought in and committed to each other and were so much fun to be around every single day and so much fun to coach. The joy that they played with and how they bonded together is really, really special.
Today stings a lot because we worked a long time to get to this position and have a chance. But in the big picture, I couldn't be more proud of the group, of how they committed to each other and to our program and continued to get better throughout the year.
In terms of the game, I thought BYU did some good things. It took us a while to get our feet defensively, we didn't until a little bit in the first half and then the better in the second half. Probably the offensive display that everyone expected, having two really, really good offensive teams. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get traction a little bit earlier defensively. And then obviously we don't have a ball go in there at the end. I'm really proud of this group and the ending stinks, but the ride was a hell of a lot of fun."
"Our bench didn't score. Some of it was we had some foul trouble and different things. The scoring wasn't the issue. It was our defensive end. We scored enough points to win the game. Can't give up 91. Every game it's somebody different. You got 37 [points] out of my best player. He had a hell of a game. The bench didn't have those same opportunities.
We had to juggle some foul trouble. I had some guys with two in the first half. [Carter] Gilmore got two. [Kamari] McGee was battling foul trouble there a little bit in the second half. That put us a little bit out of rhythm. But we got enough offensively from everybody. It was defensive end specifically in the first half. Even how we ended the first half, we shot the ball with 14 seconds to go and then come down and they get a three. We had a hard time getting our footing defensively in the first half. We did for a little bit and then we lost. In the second half, we were somewhat better. But that's a hard team to guard. We're hard to guard, too. They were able to make a couple more shots and we were quick."
"No [I didn't want anything different]. I put the ball in my best player's hands. We were in a flat alignment with some bumping action with the bigs on the other two guards. It was his decision [on what shot to get]. You trust your players. We're not in this position without John Tonje. We don't have that comeback, we don't have the year, winning 27 games without JT. So we made the decision. We've done it before. Put the ball in your best player's hands and let him go make a play."
"They had two technicals and an ejection. The official couldn't tell me what was said. He didn't know. I don't think anything was said. Apparently two assistants stood up. I didn't know you got technicals for standing up and stomping your feet. If they stomped their feet, I don't know what they did. I've said a lot of things this year and haven't even come close to getting a technical. For some reason we have one in that situation. It hasn't happened all year. I don't know why it would come out in that regard. But maybe he couldn't remember what was said."
"He's got really good players. That makes good coaches. I'm a good coach because I got really good players. It doesn't happen by accident. [Richie] Saunders is really good. Watching him warm up, the ball comes off his hands really well. [Egor] Demin as a freshman at that size, you can tell that he's been trained in the European ball screen stuff from Russia. I thought [Mawot] Mag is improved. We played against him at Rutgers for four years and he was just a defensive stopper there. [Keba] Keita I thought has gotten better since he's come from Utah. The other guys are doing a good job of filling their roles. [Mihailo] Boskovic hit a big three, down through the lineup. [Trevin] Knell did a good job, banged down some threes when they needed them.
But Saunders, you could tell he's a gamer. He's a winner. He had six offensive rebounds, kid knows how to play. When you got a guy like that, and I've got a lot of them too, that play with the heart and the energy and the unwillingness to lose, you can do a lot of good things. They've had a good year and they get to keep playing."
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin Basketball Greg Gard postgame comments after BYU loss
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UW, which defeated Montana 85-66 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, suffered a 91-89 defeat to No. 6-seed BYU in the round of 32. Wisconsin trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half. While the team never relented and nearly completed an improbable comeback, that comeback fell short in the closing seconds.
Fueled by 37 points, four rebounds and four assists from star wing John Tonje, Wisconsin orchestrated an 11-2 scoring surge in the final 2:11 minutes of action to turn an 11-tally margin into a two-point deficit. Tonje, who carried the Badgers offensively down the stretch, dropped eight of his 26 second-half points during the run to give Wisconsin the ball with an opportunity to tie in the game's closing moments.
With roughly four seconds to go on the game clock, Tonje launched a contested fadeaway jumper from the right side of the tin. The look fell short, and BYU grabbed the rebound and dribbled it out for the win.
The Cougars' 49.2% shooting clip from the field, 46.2% mark from deep and 93.8% from the charity stripe, coupled with eight more rebounds and 11 more assists, proved the difference. BYU also received 24 important points from its bench, supporting top options Richie Saunders, Trevin Knell and Egor Demin. Wisconsin, meanwhile, received only three.
Wisconsin did improve on the offensive end in the second half, plus received sizable contributions from both John Blackwell and Max Klesmit to assist Tonje. However, a poor performance in the first half and a lack of consistent offensive distribution plagued Greg Gard's group.
Gard addressed the assembled media after the loss. Here's everything the Wisconsin coach had to say after yet another first-weekend exit.
Opening statement
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"The flurry, the heart and complete grit that we showed to make a comeback like that, to have a chance in the last possession, is a credit to the young men I’ve got in the locker room. And these three [John Tonje, John Blackwell and Steven Crowl] that I have to my right. I have been doing this a long time, almost 35 years. As I told them, watching them grow together from the time we got together in June to now may have been the most fun, enjoyable year in my career. We were highly doubted early. We weren't even supposed to be in this tournament, supposed to be finishing 12th in the Big Ten maybe. This group just bought in and committed to each other and were so much fun to be around every single day and so much fun to coach. The joy that they played with and how they bonded together is really, really special.
Today stings a lot because we worked a long time to get to this position and have a chance. But in the big picture, I couldn't be more proud of the group, of how they committed to each other and to our program and continued to get better throughout the year.
In terms of the game, I thought BYU did some good things. It took us a while to get our feet defensively, we didn't until a little bit in the first half and then the better in the second half. Probably the offensive display that everyone expected, having two really, really good offensive teams. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get traction a little bit earlier defensively. And then obviously we don't have a ball go in there at the end. I'm really proud of this group and the ending stinks, but the ride was a hell of a lot of fun."
On the lack of bench production
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"Our bench didn't score. Some of it was we had some foul trouble and different things. The scoring wasn't the issue. It was our defensive end. We scored enough points to win the game. Can't give up 91. Every game it's somebody different. You got 37 [points] out of my best player. He had a hell of a game. The bench didn't have those same opportunities.
We had to juggle some foul trouble. I had some guys with two in the first half. [Carter] Gilmore got two. [Kamari] McGee was battling foul trouble there a little bit in the second half. That put us a little bit out of rhythm. But we got enough offensively from everybody. It was defensive end specifically in the first half. Even how we ended the first half, we shot the ball with 14 seconds to go and then come down and they get a three. We had a hard time getting our footing defensively in the first half. We did for a little bit and then we lost. In the second half, we were somewhat better. But that's a hard team to guard. We're hard to guard, too. They were able to make a couple more shots and we were quick."
On if he wanted something different on John Tonje's last shot attempt
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"No [I didn't want anything different]. I put the ball in my best player's hands. We were in a flat alignment with some bumping action with the bigs on the other two guards. It was his decision [on what shot to get]. You trust your players. We're not in this position without John Tonje. We don't have that comeback, we don't have the year, winning 27 games without JT. So we made the decision. We've done it before. Put the ball in your best player's hands and let him go make a play."
On Wisconsin's confusing technical foul
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"They had two technicals and an ejection. The official couldn't tell me what was said. He didn't know. I don't think anything was said. Apparently two assistants stood up. I didn't know you got technicals for standing up and stomping your feet. If they stomped their feet, I don't know what they did. I've said a lot of things this year and haven't even come close to getting a technical. For some reason we have one in that situation. It hasn't happened all year. I don't know why it would come out in that regard. But maybe he couldn't remember what was said."
On Kevin Young and BYU's team
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"He's got really good players. That makes good coaches. I'm a good coach because I got really good players. It doesn't happen by accident. [Richie] Saunders is really good. Watching him warm up, the ball comes off his hands really well. [Egor] Demin as a freshman at that size, you can tell that he's been trained in the European ball screen stuff from Russia. I thought [Mawot] Mag is improved. We played against him at Rutgers for four years and he was just a defensive stopper there. [Keba] Keita I thought has gotten better since he's come from Utah. The other guys are doing a good job of filling their roles. [Mihailo] Boskovic hit a big three, down through the lineup. [Trevin] Knell did a good job, banged down some threes when they needed them.
But Saunders, you could tell he's a gamer. He's a winner. He had six offensive rebounds, kid knows how to play. When you got a guy like that, and I've got a lot of them too, that play with the heart and the energy and the unwillingness to lose, you can do a lot of good things. They've had a good year and they get to keep playing."
Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion
This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin Basketball Greg Gard postgame comments after BYU loss
Continue reading...
