Max Klesmit caught fire in the second half as No. 11 Wisconsin bounced back from its first Big Ten loss to beat Indiana 91-79 on Friday night at the Kohl Center.

The Hoosiers had made a game of it, cutting the Badgers’ lead down to 49-42 with 14:58 left in the game. That’s when Klesmit took over, going on a personal 16-2 run, including hitting a couple 3-pointers. At one point in the second half, he had scored 20-straight for the Badgers, going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc in that stretch. He finished the game with 26 points, including 23 in the second half. It was another dominating performance after the break for Klesmit, where he is averaging 15.5 points per game and shooting 71.4% from the field over the last four games.

Klesmit’s hot hand clearly frustrated the Hoosiers, with CJ Gunn elbowing the Wisconsin guard in the face with 12:44 left and the Badgers up by 17. It earned him a Flagrant 2 foul and an ejection.

The Badgers got 15 points from AJ Storr, while Steven Crowl filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. John Blackwell had 12 points and four rebounds off the bench.

Wisconsin’s offense stayed hot, shooting 59.6% from the floor, its best mark in Big Ten play this year. That included going 10-for-21 from deep, pushing the Badgers season average up to its highest this year at 35.9%. For the game, coach Greg Gard’s club scored a blistering 1.44 points per possession.

It was needed because Indiana got it going on that end in the second half, too, scoring 53 points on 66.6% shooting and putting up an eye-popping 1.66 points per possession. Malik Reneau paced the Hoosiers with a game-high 28 points and eight rebounds. Mackenzie Mgbako chipped in 17 points for Indiana, which played without its second-leading scorer and top rebounder in Kel’el Ware (foot).

The Badgers improved to 6-1 in the Big Ten, a significant change from a year ago when they didn’t get their sixth conference win until Feb. 8 and finished 9-11. They are currently a game up Purdue and 1 1/2 games up on Illinois and Northwestern for first place.

Wisconsin will hit the road again Tuesday to face Minnesota (12-6, 3-4).