Wisconsin basketball stepped onto the Kohl Center court Wednesday for its first action of the 2024-25 season, albeit in an unofficial capacity.

The Badgers faced UW-River Falls in a preseason game. The score, which doesn’t count, was 78-62 in favor of Wisconsin.

Related: Big Ten basketball power rankings entering 2024-25 season: A first look at the expanded conference

Transfer guard John Tonje led the way for the Badgers with 15 points, while center Steven Crowl and forward Carter Gilmore added 14 and nine, respectively.

The contest was tight in the second half, with UW-River Falls cutting the Badgers’ lead to just two points with 12:55 remaining. Wisconsin would eventually pull away, though its performance was far from dominant.

There aren’t many broad takeaways from Greg Gard’s side’s performance in his first unofficial game action. The group, with new faces in almost every position, will need some time to gel and find their rhythm on the pitch.

However, one thing we can read from the contest is the Badgers’ initial starting lineup and early rotation.

Wisconsin entered the game as follows:

G: John Blackwell

G: Max Klesmit

G: John Tonje (transfer)

F: Nolan Winter

C: Steven Crowl

Gard’s first two players off the bench were F Markus Ilver and G Kamari McGee for Winter and Tonje, respectively. He continued to roll quickly after that pair, using as many as 10 players in total in the first 12 minutes of the exhibition.

Both the overall rotation and the starting lineup point to one main theme: The Badgers are deep across the board.

Blackwell, Klesmit and Crowl are easy to write in the top five series. Tonje and Winter, meanwhile, battle in a larger group that also includes veterans Carter Gilmore and Kamari McGee, top freshman Daniel Freitag, transfer forward Xavier Amos and transfer guard Camren Hunter. That’s not even mentioning Ilver, who might win a role.

Where the 2024-25 Badgers lack top star power following the offseason departures of Chucky Hepburn and AJ Storr, they excel in contributor depth. The crowded battle for the two spots alongside Blackwell, Klesmit and Crowl shows this reality.

Gard is now tasked with finding a rotation that maximizes depth that could reach 11 points. That effort will begin Monday, Nov. 4, when the Badgers officially open their 2024-25 season against Holy Cross at the Kohl Center.

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