Wisconsin guard John Tonje is wasting no time making his mark at his new school
Wisconsin guard John Blackwell (25) celebrates a basket with Wisconsin guard John Tonje (9) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Arizona Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. Credit: AP/Kayla Wolf
MADISON, Wis. — John Tonje still has a bit to learn about his new school.
Tonje was discussing Wisconsin’s 103-88 victory over No. 9 Arizona on Friday night when the former Colorado State and Missouri guard mentioned the pregame ceremony honoring the Badgers’ 2014 and 2015 teams.
“We celebrated some of the guys from the Sweet 16 teams,” Tonje noted before his new teammates reminded him that Wisconsin actually reached the Final Four in both those seasons.
Forgive Tonje if he doesn’t yet know quite as much as the average Wisconsin fan about the Badgers’ basketball history. He’s been too busy making history himself.
Tonje had one of the nation’s most extraordinary individual performances of the young season Friday night by scoring 41 points — two shy of the Wisconsin record. He is averaging 23.5 points while shooting 55.8% (24 of 43) from the floor.
Much of the attention surrounding Wisconsin (4-0) after last season focused on the players who had left for other Division I programs, with leading scorer AJ Storr bolting to Kansas and three-year starting point guard Chucky Hepburn heading to Louisville.
It turns out that adding Tonje from the transfer portal could outweigh any of those losses.
Wisconsin guard John Tonje (9) dribbles the ball against Arizona during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. Credit: AP/Kayla Wolf
“He listens,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. “He’s very attentive. He asks great questions. He’s really mature. All those things help make him the player he is.”
Tonje’s marksmanship from the foul line — he’s 37 of 39 this season — proved critical against Arizona in a game that featured a combined 63 fouls (32 by the Wildcats) and 87 free-throw attempts.
The 87 free throws matched the highest total for any game since the start of the 2023-24 season, according to Sportradar. There also were 87 combined free throws in UNC Wilmington’s 92-84 victory over Georgia Southern on Nov. 8.
Tonje needed just 14 field-goal attempts to score 41 points Friday. He went 8 of 14 from the floor, 4 of 6 from 3-point range and 21 of 22 on free throws. His 21 free throws set a school record.
According to Sportradar, Tonje was the first Division I player to score at least 40 points on fewer than 15 field-goal attempts since Fresno State’s Jemarl Baker Jr. had 43 points and 14 field-goal attempts in a 108-72 blowout of Chicago State on March 4, 2023.
Tonje just missed the school scoring record held by Frank Kaminsky, who attended Friday’s game as part of the 2014-15 celebration. Kaminsky scored 43 points against North Dakota on Nov. 19, 2013.
“He’s strong,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said about Tonje. “He’s a downhill guy. He made 3s. He’s experienced, and I’m sure he’s hungry.”
That hunger comes from missing most of last season.
Tonje played only eight games for Missouri before a foot injury knocked him out for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. He spent only one year at Missouri after playing four seasons at Colorado State, averaging 14.6 points his final year there.
He believes he benefited from his abbreviated season.
“I’d never had time to just sit down and kind of reflect on my game and what I wanted to be and where I can improve,” Tonje said. “I think it was best for me to just learn the game, take hours of film and self-reflection, figuring out what I want to get better at and where I see myself going.”
Gard says a quick study of Tonje’s work at Colorado State made it apparent the 6-foot-5 guard was worth pursuing.
“Just seeing glimpses of what he was doing there told me enough in the five minutes of film I watched, because obviously in the portal, it’s speed dating (and) we’re making fast decisions,” Gard said. “He showed me some things there that I felt there was a lot there to work with, and he was willing to learn and listen.”
Tonje’s performance Friday helped Wisconsin deliver its most lopsided victory over a top-10 team since a 67-49 triumph over No. 5 Michigan State on Feb. 2, 2010, and its first triple-digit scoring outburst against a ranked foe since a 119-100 loss to No. 14 Iowa on Feb. 10, 1970.
The stirring win resulted in a postgame court storming, creating the kind of scene Tonje envisioned when he chose Wisconsin.
“I wanted to be a part of a night like this,” he said.
