Only Nolan Winter accompanied senior John Tonje to the postgame podium, but the University of Wisconsin's unanimous first-team All-Ten selection knew more players should have been up there.

With the Badgers fully prepared to play a grinder of a game, the efforts of their starting rotation on both ends of the court allowed them to stay another day in Indianapolis.

Tonje and Winter scored 18 points each, but the depth of fifth-seeded Wisconsin's offense in getting at least eight points from six players and a stellar defensive effort was the difference in a 70-63 victory over No.14 seed Northwestern at Gainbridge Fieldhouse that wasn't as close as the final score indicated.

"It's great having talented guys around you," Tonje said. "They can't key in on one guy. I think we're a team that's willing to share it and really get anyone involved. It could be anyone's night … You really don't know who's going to get hot that night, so it's awesome."

Tonje got hot when scoring all his points after the 3:55 mark of the first half, including eight in a 4:09 stretch of the second half when UW ballooned its lead to 18. But as good as Tonje was once he caught fire, the effort of one of Wisconsin's young foundational pieces and the Badgers getting back its defensive swagger helped advanced them to Friday's tournament quarterfinal against fourth-seed UCLA.

Here are my takeaways from UW's impressive effort.

Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said on Wednesday that the Badgers started developing a list of potential transfer portal candidates to add to their program in the coming months, a sign of the times when the portal opens March 24 and UW has six seniors to replace without any established juniors.

It may behoove Gard to make sure that Winter has some decent NIL headed his way, too.

Winter hasn't been the first person people think of when discussing Wisconsin, but the sophomore center is starting to generate attention with his growth and performance. Thursday afternoon was another significant step with 18 points, six rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

"He's got a really unique skill set at 7 feet and the way he shoots it, and now he's getting stronger and more confident to be able to put the ball on the floor," Gard said. "He has a lot of versatility to his game. You could just tell his confidence was growing and growing as possessions were going on."

Winter only went 4-for-5 from the floor, but his attempts were high percentage. He crashed the glass to clean up a John Blackwell's missed layup and Carter Gilmore's missed three with second-chance points, put the ball on the floor working the pick-and-roll with Kamari McGee to finish at the rim, and stepped up to his a three-pointer in the second half.

Throw in his aggressiveness in drawing seven fouls, Winter went a career-best 9-for-10 from the line and finished a game-best plus-22 on the court.

"I'm just not trying to be a one-trick pony. I'm trying to add a little more to my game, putting it on the floor, being able to score in the post, inside and outside," said Winter, as Wisconsin improved to 14-2 when he scores in double figures. "It was good for me today to have the confidence that I could get it on the floor and get around some defenders, as well as go outside and knock down a 3.

"Just these coaches kind of giving me the confidence to showcase my game like that, it's huge for me. Going forward, I'm really excited for my future."

As good as Winter has improved his offense, his growth defensively has improved Wisconsin's collective group. Tasked with guarding the conference's top scorer in Nick Martinelli, Winter used his size and length to frustrate him on the catch and on his attempts.

After attempting 22 shots against Minnesota on Wednesday, Martinelli managed only 14 attempts against UW. He finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-for-14 shooting, only 1.5 points above his average.

"I was as impressed at the job he did defensively on Martinelli, which is really, I'd say the league's leading scorer," Gard said. "I thought he moved his feet really well. I thought he contested when he needed to and really helped set our tone defensively with the job he did on Martinelli."

The Badgers who spoke from the time they suffered an ugly home loss to Penn State and Thursday's tournament opener agreed that Saturday's performance was not indicative of their skill level. It should be no surprise that UW was stronger in that area against the Wildcats.

Getting a lift by having senior Max Klesmit return to the lineup after three missed games and having Winter back fully healthy, the Badgers held Northwestern to 37.0 percent shooting, the team’s best defensive effort since holding Nebraska to 33.9 percent on Jan. 26, 2025.

It started with UW controlling the low post. Only one of Northwestern's first 12 attempts came from the paint, and the Badgers allowed only eight shots around the rim and 20 points in the paint.

While Martinelli got his points, the Badgers prevented guard Ty Berry from hitting a three-pointer, limited Jordan Clayton to 3-for-10 shooting, and asserted its dominance in the opening stretch of the second half when Northwestern scored eight points in the first 8:30.

"We were just real with ourselves," Tonje said. "We came in the locker room, and we kind of knew what it was. There was a little bit of a trend against Penn State. We just really wanted to make sure that we locked in and talked over a couple of coverages and what we wanted to do in the second half. I'm really proud of the guys for executing in the second half."

One of Gard's keys was to win the offensive glass, knowing Northwestern's slower tempo (300th nationally) would make it a lower possession game. All seven rotational players had at least one rebound, with Steven Crowl (7), Tonje (7), and Winter (6) being the top three.

UW was outrebounded 36-32 and was at a 12-9 disadvantage on the glass, but the Badgers had a 17-6 edge in second-chance points and a 17-5 advantage in points off turnovers.

"We're not a defense that's built to turn teams over," Gard said. "We play more on percentages and taking away high-percentage shots, but I felt the offensive glass was important, and we were able to get to the free-throw line quite a bit."

Wisconsin went 18-for-23 (78.3 percent) at the free throw line, improving to 13-3 when attempting at least 20 FTs in a game this season and making up for an afternoon where it went 32.0 percent (8-for-25) from three.

"There's been nights where we've lit the nets on fire from three, but good teams find ways to win when maybe the 3 doesn't go down," Gard said. " You can get to the line, you can get second-chance points off the glass and convert some turnovers in, too."

Klesmit's return after not playing since February 25 was helpful in Wisconsin getting back some of its defensive intensity, but the senior scoring nine points and not lacking confidence, such as his step-back three-pointer off the dribble, was a welcomed sign moving forward.

John Blackwell didn't shoot the ball well (3-for-10 FG, 1-for-6 3FG), but the sophomore committed only one turnover in 29 minutes. The same goes for Blackwell's backup, as McGee was second behind Winter in the plus-minus category (+13) and finished with eight points, looking and playing more energetically than he did in place of Klesmit in the starting lineup.

"McGee plays such an important piece off the bench," Gard said. "He really has embraced that role. He really has thrived in that role. What that gets disjointed, we don't have the same impact coming off the bench."

Crowl had seven points, seven rebounds, three assists, and a technical after blocking Berry's layup attempt at the rim.

"That's been the strength of this team that we've done it in numbers," Gard said. "We've done it from different places on different nights, and I think the other thing having Klesmit back and having McGee off the bench, it allows Blackwell to settle in a little bit more and not have as much on his plate, and I can rest him more. I don't have to play him 38 minutes a game. I can use the bench more and spread those minutes out."

9 - Gard improved to 9-8 in the Big Ten Tournament. Tom Izzo (35), Matt Painter (17), and Fran McCaffery (10) are the only active coaches with more Big Ten Tournament wins than Gard.

148 - Crowl appeared in his 148th career game, matching Josh Gasser (2011-15) and Bronson Koenig (2014-17) for third-most in program history. Tyler Wahl holds the record at 162.

532 - By going 18-for-23 from the line, Wisconsin bumped its season free-throw total to 532, the fourth-highest single-season total in school history. UW is 51 free throws from the 2006-07 season and 110 behind the 2013-14 team in first place. On the season, UW leads the NCAA shooting 83.4 percent (532-638) at the foul line.

.566 - The Badgers improved to 30-23 (.566) in Big Ten Tournament games, ranking fourth among all conference teams in both wins and win percentage.

605 - With 18 points, Tonje has now scored 605 points this season, moving into a tie for ninth place on Wisconsin's single-season scoring list with A.J. Storr. He is 20 points away from moving past Devin Harris' 2004 season (624) into third place.

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