MADISON, Wis. â After losing five of six, including several of the ugly or embarrassing variety, style points no longer should matter to the University of Wisconsin. Just find a way to get the job done and move on to the next one.
The Badgers accomplished that feat Tuesday, using a first-half surge to open a wide enough gap that they were able to hold despite a furious comeback attempt by Maryland in a 74-70 victory at the Kohl Center.
A Quad-2 victory that improved the Badgers record to 12-9 in Quad 1/2 games, making just one of four teams with that many victories in such games, Wisconsin (18-9, 10-6 Big Ten) gets a week to rest before facing two road and two home games before the postseason, including a pair of games against top-15 teams.
Here are my takeaways from Wisconsin’s triumph.
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Max Klesmit (right) tries to tie up Maryland’s Julian Reese as Steven Crowl (22) reacts (Dan Sanger/BadgerBlitz)
Defense Delivers A Better Effort
Seeing a team that is second-to-last in the league in field goal percentage (39.8) shoot 50 percent in the second half and 46.2 percent for the game would lend itself to being another negative against Wisconsinâs on-again, off-again defensive effort.
However, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard and forwards Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl agree that this was a solid defensive effort against a team that has had hard luck in one-possession games (1-6) and plays better than the one hovering around .500.
One of the lower-possession and slower-tempo teams in the league, the Badgers â mainly guard Chucky Hepburn – made all-conference point guard Jahmir Young work (20 points on 17 shots) and kept him off the three-point line (1-for-4), prevented center Julian Reece from taking over the glass (18 points, 7 rebounds) and drastically limit all the other options.
While the Terps shot 46.2 percent, including 50 percent in the second half, the Badgers held them to 1.07 points per possession.
A big part of Marylandâs offense is its ability to draw fouls. Maryland ranks No. 14 in the country at getting offense at the free-throw line per KenPom (42.3 percent ratio of free throw attempts to field goal attempts) and nearly 25 percent of its points have come from the free-throw line.
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UW held Maryland to 23 attempts, over half of which came in the final 5:30.
âWe did a pretty good job of playing clean but still playing physical,â Wahl said. âI think we did a really good job of playing team defense where we had guys in the gap, guys helping, and not over-rotating. That keeps us all on the same page, it keeps us from running around and giving up those open looks.â
It wasnât perfect. The Badgers gave up 34 points in the paint and the Terrapins went 14-for-21 on layups or dunks. Maryland also scored 14 points off its last seven possessions to prevent the Badgers from winning comfortably.
Wahl Surging at the Right Time
Wahl admitted it was hard to replicate Marylandâs physicality early, evidenced by Wisconsin having eight first-half turnovers, including three by him in the first eight-plus minutes. That didnât discourage him as much as motivate him to keep plugging away in the low post.
The result was Wahl posting 18 points, matching his third-highest total of the season, and adding six rebounds.
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In a decisive 10-0 run around the midpoint of the first half, Wahl scored six of the points. He also notched a steal and an assist to A.J. Storr on the fast break for a ferocious dunk in traffic. It wasnât nearly as pretty, but Wahl followed up Storrâs dunk with a right-handed hooked shot and a right-handed layup that counted the same. UW never gave back the lead.
Wahl scored in double figures for the 18th time this season and the 61st time of his career.
He may never admit it, but the loss of Kamari McGee and John Blackwell looked like it was starting to catch up to Max Klesmit. Having to play more minutes with the reserves out, Klesmitâs points per game dipped over the last three contests as heâs gone 5-for-27 from the field and 3-for-16 from the perimeter.
But with Blackwell back at full capacity Tuesday (and played tough with nine points (7-8 FTs), Klesmit found his rhythm offensively.
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Klesmitâs 16 points were the most since January 19 (the game McGee got hurt) and his clutch gene was in full effect. After Young crashed the rim and hit a layup to cut the lead to four, Klesmit took a high screen from Steven Crowl and buried a three-pointer with 56 seconds left to put UW up three possessions.
When the game became a whistle fest, Klesmit calming went 6-for-6 from the line over the final 36 seconds.
As a team, UW went 28-for-31 (90.3 percent), a season-high and the most made free throws since Jan.26, 2016.
âThe thing with Kles, you always know youâre going to get energy out of him,â Wahl said. âWhen heâs on the court, when heâs locked in and heâs ready to go, he brings a whole other dynamic to our team ⦠When he gets a few baskets to go in, then heâs a whole other problem for the team to worry about and it just opens up the court for us.â
Wisconsin has typically matched its No.4 with Maryland forward Donta Scott in past seasons, but the Terrapins had moved the fifth-year senior to the three with the addition of Indiana transfer Jordan Geronimo. Needing someone physical and mobile on Scott, the coaching staff gave that job to Klesmit.
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The result was Scott having two points on five shots in the first half and finishing with 12 before fouling out.
âScott tried to establish the post early, one of the first possessions and Max got a foul on him, but Max wasnât going to relent to post position,â Gard said. âYou need somebody pretty physical on him.â
By The Numbers
4 – Number of Big Ten games where Wisconsin had four starters in double figures (at Penn State, at Michigan, at Iowa).
18 – The Badgers out-rebounded Maryland, 33-24. UW has now tallied more boards in 18 of 27 games this season.
20 – UW has now hit double-digit Big Ten wins in 20 of the last 23 seasons. No other team can make that claim.
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22 – Scoring 10 points against Maryland, Storr has reached double figures in each of his last 22 games, the longest consecutive streak by a Badger since Ethan Happ tallied 42 straight games spanning the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Storr has scored 10+ in 25 out of 27 games this season.
56.7 – Wisconsin’s shooting percentage on two-point shots (17-for-30)
90.3 – UW’s 90.3 percent (28-for-31) at the line is the team’s highest FT percentage with at least 30 FTAs since going 28-for-31 against Indiana on Feb. 3, 2015.
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One of the most unique ships featured in Sail250 Maryland and Airshow Baltimore can be found docked at the Baltimore Peninsula.
USS Marinette LCS25 is one of the most functional ships in the Navy fleet. At 370 feet long with 80 crew members, the ship has a helicopter landing pad and hangar, two rib boats in the belly of the vessel, and heavy artillery, including a cannon.
The ship has four engines, two of which are like jet engines, meaning it can sprint ahead of other vessels to intercept watercraft. It can also truck side to side and spin 360 degrees with controllable reversing and steering deflector buckets attached to the stern of the jet propulsion system. It can also traverse the littoral zones, water close to shore, and navigate waters as low as 15 feet deep.
“Where we shine is our ability to operate where other ships can’t,” said Cdr. Brian Sims, the ship’s executive officer. “For a 370-foot ship, one of the smallest in the fleet, it packs a punch. We can go 40 plus knots.”
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The ship is used in counternarcotics missions primarily on the East Coast and in the Caribbean.
It is based in Jacksonville, Florida, but was built in Marinette, Wisconsin, which is where the ship gets its name. It began operating in 2023 and has yet to deploy. The ship can be out on the water for weeks or even months.
“We go out and find drug trafficking individuals and intercept, and the Coast Guard then takes over and arrests,” Sims said.
The pilot house is where the ship truly shines. An officer and junior officer monitor the radar and navigation, while another sailor sits at the helm and oversees steering the vessel and monitoring the engines.
“This is a very unique design for Navy ships,” Sims added.
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The ship also hosts several heavy artillery pieces, including a cannon on the bow with different types of rounds to combat different threats. It can fire 220 rounds in a minute.
With its rich Naval history, Baltimore is playing host to some of the Navy’s finest, and the crews are equally as excited to be here in Maryland, the backbone of the Navy, celebrating 250 years of American history.
“Baltimore is a fantastic city, steeped in maritime tradition. Of course, we have Fort McHenry that we sailed past and rendered honors to when we arrived,” Sims said. “Having the ability to be in this role in this position on board this ship to celebrate the nation’s 250th, it’s an absolute honor, and one that, one that gives us all pause, and lets us reflect on where we’ve come as a nation.”
As Maryland families head into another hot summer, many are about to receive an unpleasant reminder of just how badly some state leaders failed to address Maryland’s growing energy problems this year.
Higher energy bills are not coming by accident. They are the predictable result of years of poor planning and a continued refusal by Democratic leadership in Annapolis to confront the real issue facing our state: Maryland does not produce enough electricity to meet its own growing energy needs.
Instead of seriously addressing that challenge during this year’s legislative session, Democratic leaders celebrated passage of the so-called Utility Relief Act (House Bill 1532), which offers Marylanders roughly $12 in savings per month. At a time when families are facing soaring energy costs driven by a massive shortage of reliable in-state power generation, that is not meaningful relief. It is a political talking point designed to avoid the larger conversation Maryland desperately needs to have.
Our state imports nearly half of the electricity it uses. Nearly half of the power keeping homes cool, businesses operating and communities functioning every day comes from outside our borders. Yet even as demand for electricity continues to rise, Maryland continues falling behind on building the reliable generation capacity needed to support our future.
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That is not a serious long-term strategy.
Families across Maryland are already struggling with inflation, rising housing costs and economic uncertainty. Energy bills are becoming another major financial burden for working families, seniors and small businesses. But instead of focusing on increasing reliable power supply, meaning fully lowering consumer costs, and strengthening Maryland’s long-term energy security, Annapolis continues offering temporary fixes that fail to address the underlying problem.
The reality is simple: Maryland needs more power generation, and every responsible energy source should be part of the conversation. Natural gas, nuclear, renewables, battery storage, clean coal and emerging technologies all have a role to play in creating a more reliable and affordable energy future for our state.
Maryland also needs a broader conversation about the role experienced infrastructure providers and utilities can play in strengthening reliability and supporting future generation needs. These are organizations that already manage the systems Marylanders depend on every day and understand the long-term planning required to maintain dependable service.
Reliable and affordable energy is not a partisan issue. It is a basic requirement for economic growth, business investment and everyday quality of life.
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As summer begins and air conditioners start running around the clock, Maryland families will once again be reminded that energy policy decisions made in Annapolis have real world consequences.
Unfortunately, they are paying for those consequences every month.
Del. Jason Buckel is the Minority Leader of the Maryland House of Delegates and represents Allegany County in the Maryland General Assembly.
MARYLAND (WBFF) — A group of Republican candidates, a voter, and an election-integrity organization are asking an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge to stop the state from certifying primary election results until election officials contact every voter whose original ballot was rejected and allow them to correct the problem.
The lawsuit, filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court against the Maryland State Board of Elections, comes a month after state election officials acknowledged that some Maryland voters were mistakenly mailed ballots for the wrong political party and sent replacement ballots to affected voters.
The ballot error affected voters who requested physical mail-in ballots for the June 23 primaries.
The Maryland State Board of Elections said its vendor, Taylor Print and Visual Impressions Inc. (TPVI), mailed some of the voters’ ballots for the wrong political party, but the administrator said the board’s vendor couldn’t identify which voters received erroneous ballots. Over 500,000 Maryland voters had requested mail-in ballots, most of them in Montgomery, Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties, and Baltimore City.
As Maryland families head into another hot summer, many are about to receive an unpleasant reminder of just how badly some state leaders failed to address Maryland’s growing energy problems this year.
