John Blackwell scored 17 and John Tonje added 15 to lead the No. 19 Wisconsin Badgers to an 86-70 win over UCF at the Greenbrier Tip-Off in West Virginia.
The Badgers (6-0) also got 14 from Kamari McGee on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. Nolan Winter scored 13 and grabbed a game-high 10 boards.
Jordan Ivy-Curry led the way for UCF (4-1) with 13 points despite shooting 3-of-14 from the floor. Keyshawn Hall and Dior Johnson each added 11.
Wisconsin jumped out in front quicky, making six of their first 10 shots from the floor to take 24-12 lead by the halfway point of the first half. The Badgers’ lead grew to as much as 22 with four minutes left but UCF battled back to cut Wisconsin’s halftime lead to 46-31.
Blackwell led the Badgers with 10 at the break while McGee had nine, despite the team missing nine of their final 11 shots to close the half.
Ivy-Curry led UCF with 10 points in the half. The Knights struggled from the field in the first half, going 0-for-9 from deep and 10-for-34 overall.
In the second half, UCF made two quick free throws to cut the deficit to 46-33. That’s the closest they got for the rest of the night. Wisconsin quickly went on a 7-0 run to make it a 20-point lead and maintained it from there.
The Badgers continued to shoot it well and hold UCF in check from the field throughout the second half. The Knights shot just 33.9 percent on the game and 12 percent from 3-point range.
Wisconsin improves to 6-0 for the first time since they made the final four in the 2014-15 season. They also set a school record by scoring at least 75 points in each of their first six games of the season.
Wisconsin will play tomorrow against Pitt for the Greenbrier Tip-Off championship. UCF will be in action too against LSU for third place.
–Field Level Media
