Field Level Media
Mar 14, 2024
John Blackwell came off the bench to score 18 points and three other players scored in double figures, leading Wisconsin to an 87-56 blowout of Maryland in the second round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday.
Wisconsin advanced to meet No. 4 seed Northwestern in a quarterfinal game on Friday.
Steven Crowl scored 17 points, A.J. Storr had 16 points and Chucky Hepburn added 10 points for Wisconsin (20-12), which made 16 of 25 shots (64 percent) from 3-point range and went 31 of 60 (51.7 percent) from the field overall.
The Badgers also held a 42-25 rebounding advantage and had 25 assists.
Jahmir Young scored 18 points and DeShawn Harris-Smith added 16 points in defeat for Maryland, which finished the season 16-17 in Kevin Willard's second year as head coach.
Wisconsin built a 21-point lead at halftime thanks to torrid shooting from 3-point range. The Badgers went 10 of 13 (76.9 percent) from behind the 3-point line en route to a 47-26 lead at intermission.
The second half proved to be worse for Maryland.
Wisconsin opened the second half with an 18-0 run to take a 65-26 lead with 15:16 remaining.
Storr scored eight points in the barrage to go along with 3-pointers by Crowl and Hepburn.
Harris-Smith of Maryland finally ended the run on a 3-pointer with 14:52 remaining, but the damage had already been done.
The Badgers eventually pushed their lead to as many as 42 points at 78-36 with 8:08 left after a 3-pointer by Connor Essegian.
Wisconsin took charge of the game early, going up 18-7 just 6:10 into the game following a 3-pointer by Storr.
The Badgers increased their lead to 16 at 34-15 with 7:34 to go until halftime after a three-point play by Nolan Winter.
--Field Level Media