John Tonje had 27 points and reserve Carter Gilmore added a career-high 15 as No. 17 Wisconsin overcame a sluggish first half to salvage a 75-69 Big Ten victory over Northwestern on Saturday in Evanston, Ill.

Max Klesmit added 11 points and Nolan Winter 10 for Wisconsin (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten), which avoided a third consecutive road loss.

Jalen Leach had 23 points, Nick Martinelli 15, and Ty Berry 14 for Northwestern (12-10, 3-8).

Brooks Barnhizer (foot) of the Wildcats sat out, and coach Chris Collins announced after the game that Barnhizer will miss the rest of the season.

Wisconsin got off to an ice-cold start and trailed 31-25 at the break, a season-low for points in either half.

Gilmore hit consecutive 3-pointers and Klesmit capped an 8-0 run with two free throws to bring Wisconsin even at 46 with 11:45 remaining.

Gilmore followed a missed breakaway with a putback to give the Badgers their first lead of the second half at 54-52.

Gilmore, a senior whose previous career high was eight points, drained another 3-pointer, then added two free throws on the next possession to push the lead to 64-55 with 5 1/2 minutes left.

Leach’s 3-pointer pulled Northwestern within 73-67 with 1:36 left.

Tonje hit two free throws with 19.3 seconds left to put Wisconsin up 75-69. The Badgers, No. 1 in the nation in free throw percentage at 84.6 percent, were 18 of 21 from the line, including 14 of 16 in the second half.

Northwestern jumped out to an 8-0 lead as the Badgers missed their first five shots.

Wisconsin, which had just seven points on 2-of-16 shooting through the first 12 1/2 minutes, rallied for an 18-15 lead as Tonje scored 11 straight for the Badgers.

Tonje extended his streak to 16 consecutive points with his fourth 3-pointer of the half to tie it at 23.

Northwestern hit six of its final eight shots for a 31-25 halftime lead.

Tonje was 5 of 10 in the first half, including 4 of 7 from deep. The rest of the team was 3 of 18. Wisconsin also turned it over nine times before the break.

–Field Level Media