By Joey Bonadonna -@JoeyBonadonna

The Badgers continued their opening week with a 79-67 win over the Montana State Bobcats.

Max Klesmit led all scorers in this one by a mile with 26 points (7-15 FG, 6-11 3PT, 6-6 FT). John Tonje (13 points), John Blackwell (13 points) and Kamari McGee (11 points) were the other Badgers in double figures.

Both teams shot high-volume and high-percentage from deep as Wisconsin was 11-22 and Montana State was 12-26.

Brian Goracke led the scoring for the Bobcats with 14 points (4-8 3PT, 2-2 FT) in the team's first game of the season. Utah State transfer Max Agbonkpolo was close behind with 13.

Three Positives to Take Away:

Max Klesmit was working with unshakeable confidence. After a slow start to his 2024-25 campaign, he was firing on all cylinders from deep against Montana State. Postgame, Klesmit likened his shooting performance to his mental game on the golf course.

“You're not going to hit 320-yard drives down the fairway every time,” he said. “You might be in the rough. You might miss one long. But, you always get to shoot the next shot.”

“He's been putting a lot of time in,” head coach Greg Gard said. “Shooters shoot, and he was feeling it tonight.”

Klesmit's ability to catch fire at any given moment was a big reason as to why the Badgers had success last season. They'll need more of that to continue to compete in 2024-25.

Wisconsin is shooting incredibly well from the free throw line to start the season.
Make that 36-37 from the stripe officially. After a season where the Badgers made it an emphasis of getting to the rim and drawing fouls, that trend has continued a season later. This time, they've been incredibly efficient at converting their chances. 

“Whatever we can do to get free points at the line, we're trying to do that,” sophomore John Blackwell said.

John Tonje has continued to get to the line in droves and Gard believes he has potential to do even more damage there.

“When he plays off two feet, he gets fouled right away,” Gard said. “That's part of the game he needs to improve upon. He's going to have opportunities to attack.”

Kamari McGee and Carter Gilmore have cemented themselves as this team's glue guys.
All the talk this offseason was about what steps forward sophomores like John Blackwell or Nolan Winter could take. However, the two seniors have made huge impacts in every game so far.

For McGee, he's dazzled with his ability to create near the rim as well as being a nuisance defensively.

“It's something you can feel when #4 checks in,” Klesmit said. “He brings a tempo and a voice that carries throughout the team.”

As for Gilmore, he's had an interesting path to his current role, starting his career as a walk-on. Tonight, he made possibly the play of the night with a chasedown block late in the first half. 

His head coach had some choice words for how much he's truly meant to the program.

“I know he's taken a lot of [grief] over his career here,” Gard said. “Quite frankly, it's unwarranted. If you had any idea what you're looking at, you can see that he anchors us defensively.”

Keep an eye on these two guys to play a big role in the Badgers' success this season.

What's Next?

The Badgers move their season to Sunday when they welcome in the Appalachian State Mountaineers to the Kohl Center. App State was the 2023-24 Sun Belt regular season champion before falling to Arkansas State in the conference tournament semifinals.