Wisconsin overcame a very sluggish start on its way to an 85-61 season-opening win over Holy Cross on Monday night at the Kohl Center.

Player of the Game: John Tonje

After a tough shooting night against UW-River Falls in exhibition action last week, the transfer was much more locked in on Monday night. He went 6-for-11 from the field, including hitting three of his six shots from beyond the arc. Tonje was also perfect from the free throw line (8-for-8) and added five rebounds to his stat line.

The not so good: The start

Woof. That feels like an appropriate description of the first 10 or so minutes of the game. After scoring the first bucket of the game — a Steven Crowl 3-pointer — Wisconsin went down 21-5 to the Crusaders. While the Badgers were going 2-for-13 to start the game, including nine missed 3-pointers, Holy Cross took advantage of a slow-to-respond Wisconsin defense, making nine of its first 11 shots. Certainly, you have to give credit to the Crusaders — they made some tough shots in that stretch — but there were plenty of defensive mistakes from the Badgers to help the cause.

The good: The response

As pointed out above, it was 21-5 with 13:39 left in the first half. Things were going horribly for Wisconsin on both ends of the court. But the Badgers finally turned up the intensity on the defensive end of the floor, stringing stops together and it led to more rhythm on offense for the club, especially as they started to attack the rim. Then the 3-pointers started to fall and the Badgers got to within one at the break before dominating the entire second half.

Stat of the Game: 100%

That was what Wisconsin shot at the free throw line, where it held a huge advantage in makes and opportunities. The Badgers hit all 16 of their free throws, the second-most makes without a miss in school history. Holy Cross didn’t shoot its first free throw until there was 7:07 left in the game.

In Case You Missed It

— Wisconsin took 31 3-pointers and made 11 of them. The Badgers hit more than 11 3s just twice last season.

— UW coach Greg Gard is now 9-0 in season openers

— Sophomore John Blackwell finished with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting

— Sophomore Nolan Winter didn’t miss a shot on his way to a career-high 15 points

— Sophomore guard Isaac Gard, the son of the head coach, scored the first points of his college career with a 3-pointer in the final minutes.

— Four true freshmen saw their first action: Daniel Freitag, Riccardo Greppi, Aidan Konop and Jack Robison.

What’s next?

Wisconsin (1-0) will host Montana State on Thursday at the Kohl Center