Wisconsin hammers No. 24 Virginia at Ft. Myers Tip-Off

November 20, 2023
|In Badgers
|By Zach Heilprin

Wisconsin rolled to a dominant 65-41 win over No. 24 Virginia in the opener of the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Monday night.

The Badgers took control early thanks to big man Steven Crowl. The senior scored seven of Wisconsin’s first 10 points and his jumper with 1:14 left in the first half gave the team a 10-point lead. His final bucket came on a dunk on a nice pass from Chucky Hepburn to put the Badgers up 16. Crowl finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of assists.

Crowl got plenty of help, with John Blackwell scoring 10 points, Tyler Wahl coming up with nine points and 10f rebounds, while Max Klesmit had nine points and three boards. Hepburn didn’t score much — he had just three points — but had six assists and no turnovers.

The Badgers shot just 40.3% from the field, but they put together their best defensive performance of the season. They held the Cavaliers to 32.6% shooting overall and they were only 4-for-14 from beyond the arc. Despite all the misses, Virginia had only three offensive rebounds and Wisconsin had a 48-21 advantage on the boards.

The 24-point margin of victory was the Badgers largest against a ranked team since beating Louisville by 37 in 2020.

Wisconsin is now 3-2 on the year and will face either SMU or West Virginia on Wednesday.