It has been a good day of news for the Wisconsin Badgers on Monday. They saw a five-spot bump to No. 11 in the AP Poll, which is the best in the Big Ten. They’re now the No. 9 team according to KenPom, which is also the top rank in the conference.
And now, star guard John Tonje has accumulated another award, winning the Big Ten Player of the Week for the third time this season after pouring in 32 points in Wisconsin’s 94-84 win over the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday.
Tonje, Wisconsin’s leading scorer at 19.2 points per game this season, has found a way to shine in some of the team’s biggest matchups this season, and that came to life on Saturday when the guard put up 22 points in the second half alone.
He shot 10/15 from the floor in the win, while hitting four three-pointers and 8/9 of his free throws en route to the 32 points. He is the nation’s only player to post multiple 30-point games against top 10 opponents this season, as he had 41 against then-No. 9 ranked Arizona back in November.
Tonje has won the award three times this season, the last coming in November when he won back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Week awards on November 18th and November 25th.
The Badgers have a couple of big games ahead of them this week, as they’ll host the Illinois Fighting Illini on Tuesday before facing the Oregon Ducks at the Kohl Center on Saturday in a tough week. Tonje will be key to the Badgers as they look to build off their four-game win streak and peak at the right moment late in the season.
