Wisconsin aims to avoid letdown vs. Texas Rio Grande Valley

After taking down ninth-ranked Arizona, Wisconsin will look to avoid a letdown when the undefeated Badgers host Texas Rio Grande Valley in a non-conference game Monday night in Madison, Wis.

Wisconsin (4-0) upended the Wildcats 103-88 on Friday behind a career-high 41 points from graduate transfer John Tonje.

UTRGV (3-2) won the River Division title at the Greenbrier Tip-off over the weekend, opening with an 86-76 win over Charleston Southern, followed with an 83-58 rout of Tennessee Tech on Saturday.

Wisconsin, which led Arizona by 18 late in the first half, saw the Wildcats come back to the score at 65 with 14 minutes left before pulling away.

"I think I was most proud of the response when it was 65-all," Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said afterward. "That showed me the guts and toughness that is starting to develop with this group."

Tonje, a 6-5 guard who was limited to eight games at Missouri last season due to injuries, hit 8 of 14 shots, including 4 of 6 beyond the arc, and 21 of 22 free-throw attempts. Tonje's previous career high was 31 points while playing for Colorado State against Oral Roberts in 2021.

Tonje is averaging a team-best 23.5 points per game, shooting 55.8 percent (24-43), along with 37 of 39 from the free-throw line. Max Klesmit averages 15.3 points and John Blackwell 12.8.

Nolan Winter leads with 5.8 boards per game, with Tonje at 5.5. The Badgers have a 1.3 rebound advantage per game, but were pounded on the boards by Arizona, 52-28. They offset that by hitting 41 of 47 free throws.

The Vaqueros (3-2) have won three straight since opening the season with road losses at Nebraska and No. 14 Creighton.

"We have to be ready to regroup and be the best version of ourselves and just get better and better," first-year coach Kahil Fennell said following that road trip.

K.T. Raimey averages a team-high 15.0 points, while Hasan Abdul-Hakim adds 14.6 points and 6.2 boards.

--Field Level Media