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Klesmit heats up and leads Wisconsin men's basketball past Montana State

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MADISON – When Max Klesmit gets rolling like he did Thursday night, it's easy to believe every shot will fall, so excuse him if he got caught up in the moment.

“Shooters shoot and obviously he felt it tonight,” Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Greg Gard said. “I couldn’t get him out before he put the shot on the shot clock from 35 feet away.

“He said he was tired. I said this was not the time to raise it from a height of 35 feet.”

The Badgers coach could say that with a smile, knowing that Klesmit is one of the shooters on the team who deserves a little more freedom with his shot selection.

The senior guard earned a heat check or two during the Badgers' 79-67 victory over Montana State in front of 13,554 spectators at the Kohl Center.

BOX score: Wisconsin 79, Montana State 67

He finished with 26 points, one shy of his career high, and hit seven of 15 shots. He was 6-for-11 from three-point range and was 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Fifteen of his points came in the second half when he scored on four of eight attempts and three of six attempts from beyond the arc.

The performance saved Klesmit from a minor crisis. He went 1-for-10 combined in the exhibition and season opener and did not shoot well in the team's Red-White scrimmage.

On Thursday, he pointed to a quick start — he hit back-to-back three-pointers about eight minutes into the game — and help from his teammates.

“If you go through the stats, you see Steven (Crowl) with four assists, those two with three assists,” he said, nodding to John Blackwell and Kamari McGee, who joined him at the postgame press conference. “I can remember a few times when I received another pass after getting into the paint. So I think sharing the ball at a high level and touching the paint when we can is the pinnacle of good team basketball.”

Klesmit's offensive push was a highlight of the evening. Here are two more takeaways from the win.

Bobcats provided UW with a non-conference quality test

Montana State, which played its season opener, is the three-time defending Big Sky champion and the media favorite to win the conference this season. The Bobcats have five players with at least 102 games of experience.

They were a balanced group that continued to play in the second half even as UW increased its lead. Senior guard Brian Goracke, a preseason all-conference selection, finished with a team-high 14 points.

UW held its shooting percentage to 44.4% (24 of 54), but allowed 12 of 26 from three-point range (46.2%).

What set the Badgers apart was their ability to get to the free throw line – they hit 20 of 21 attempts – and an aggressiveness that led to all but four of the team's points coming from shots at the rim, according to Gard, out of three – Point range or at the free throw stripe.

“From an analytical standpoint, you want things at the rim, dunks, layups, post moves, free throws and good three-pointers,” Gard said.

UW tied Montana State on a 12-3 run that began in the final minute of the half and continued into the first two minutes of the second half. During that span, the Badgers' lead grew from two points to 47-36 18 minutes and 18 seconds into the second half.

Wisconsin led by as many as 17 points and never let the Bobcats get closer than nine points the rest of the night.

“It’s a good win against a good, experienced team…” said Gard. “I liked the maturity of our guys as we progressed as we built a lead in the second half. We did good things on both ends of the floor.”

Tonje, Blackwell, McGee have their moments

While Klesmit flirted with his career high, Tonje, a 6-5 guard, added 13 points. The same was true for Blackwell and McGee with an 11-point performance that included some tough finishes at the rim.

Tonje had 11 in the first half, including eight from the free throw line in the final 4:06 of the half. The six fouls he caused in the first half matched the rest of the team.

In addition to his points, Blackwell had seven assist points during the Badgers' 12-3 run that gave them control of the game.

McGee scored on five of his seven attempts, with most of them coming on tough plays that he finished playing basketball against much bigger players.

“We have a lot of guys who can do different things,” Gard said. “There's even a couple of guys I'd like to run with more (Xavier) Amos and (Marcus (Ilver), (John) Janicki. I just had the experience of having to guard what they were running and noticing that you at any time.” It is a mistake that young, inexperienced players tend to get involved in such things.

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