MINNEAPOLIS – Freshman John Blackwell scored 18 points, Steven Crowl added 17 points, and the pair made seven of Wisconsin’s season-high 16 3-pointers in an 87-56 rout of Maryland on Thursday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.
Wisconsin (20-12) will play No. 4 seed Northwestern on Friday in the quarterfinals. The Badgers beat the Wildcats 71-63 on Jan. 13 in the lone regular-season meeting.
Wisconsin dominated the first half, hitting 10 3-pointers – in just 13 attempts – to build a 47-26 lead. It tied the Badgers’ second-most makes from 3-point range this season – in full-length games.
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Wisconsin made its first six 3-pointers and, after a miss, Blackwell added another to make it 31-15 with nine minutes left. Blackwell made all four of his 3-point attempts in the first half and scored 14 points. AJ Storr and Crowl each added two 3-pointers, with Crowl scoring 14 points.
Crowl and Chucky Hepburn continued the hot shooting after halftime, making 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions during a 18-0 run to open the second half for a 39-point lead.
Former New York Jets and Ohio State defensive end Matt Finkes has apologized for incorrectly posting a report that former Wisconsin Badgers athletic director and football coach Barry Alvarez died Monday.
At the time, Finkes posted an image of Alvarez with the caption, ‘Football lost a legend today. Barry was a pillar of the sport & a great guy.
‘Never forget him coaching me in the East West Shrine game & coming back to the hotel & seeing him & my dad at the bar having scotch & telling stories till the wee hours. RIP Barry @badgerfootball.’
But after rumors spiked following this post, Alvarez’s daughter – Dawn Thomas – as well as reporters from The Wisconsin State Journal confirmed that Alvarez was still alive.
According to the reporters, current Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh spoke with Alvarez on the phone on Monday.
Dawn Thomas replied to Finkes’ post, saying, ‘I would know I had dinner with him last night!’
It’s not clear how that rumor started and Finkes did not disclose the source publicly.
Finkes played only one year in the NFL following four seasons at Ohio State.
Alvarez served as Wisconsin’s head football coach from 1990 through 2005 – also serving as interim in 2012 and 2014.
He also worked as the school’s athletic director between 2004 and up until his retirement in 2021.
Alvarez led Wisconsin to three Big Ten titles and three victories in the Rose Bowl. He’s been named to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, the UW Athletics Hall of Fame, and the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame.
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