Wisconsin tops Northwestern 70-61 to reach Big Ten semifinals
AJ Storr scored a career-high 30 points, Steven Crowl added 19 and No. 5 seed Wisconsin beat No. 4 seed Northwestern 70-61 on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
Wisconsin (21-12) advances to play top seed and third-ranked Purdue in the semifinals on Saturday. The Badgers lost both regular-season meetings with the Boilermakers, 75-69 at home and 78-70 on the road.
Storr gave Wisconsin its first double-digit lead with 6:57 left in the second half when he sank a 3-pointer for a 62-52 lead.
Northwestern star Boo Buie made his seventh 3-pointer with 4:17 remaining to get within 65-59. But the Wildcats would not make another field goal the rest of the way.
Wisconsin stayed hot from 3-point range after making 16 on Thursday against Maryland. Freshman John Blackwell, who made four 3-pointers against the Terrapins, made his only 3-pointer against Northwestern with 2:14 left for a 70-59 lead.
The Wildcats turned it over on their next two possessions and Wisconsin kept working down the clock to seal it.
The Badgers went 10 of 22 from distance, with three makes apiece from Max Klesmit, Crowl, Storr. Klesmit finished with 10 points and seven assists. Storr was 10 of 16 from the field and 7 of 8 at the stripe, and Crowl made 8 of 12 overall.
Buie led Northwestern (21-11) with 29 points and seven 3-pointers. Brooks Barnhizer had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Ryan Langborg, averaging 12.4 points per game, fouled out with 5:30 left to finish with five points on 2-of-6 shooting.
Buie was one make shy of tying the Big Ten Tournament record of eight 3-pointers in a game, set by Iowa's Keegan Murray (2022) and Indiana's Devonte Green (2019). Buie did set a program record for the tournament, passing Ben Johnson (2001) with six 3-pointers.
Buie scored 11 straight Northwestern points and added a personal 5-0 run for a 21-10 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half. But he didn't score again the rest of the half and Wisconsin used a 14-0 run to get back in it. Luke Hunger made a jumper from the free-throw line in the closing seconds to get Northwestern within 33-29 lead at the break.
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