MADISON – Maybe this Wisconsin team – unranked entering Saturday – is better than many observers anticipated.

And mentally tough.

The Badgers looked outstanding in building a double-digit halftime lead against No. 3 Marquette on Saturday at the Kohl Center.

They looked tentative and disjointed in the second half as Marquette roared back to within a point less than six minutes into the second half.

Then Greg Gard’s players steadied themselves and made critical plays on both ends of the court to re-establish control and take down the Golden Eagles, 75-64, in front of an energetic crowd of 17,071.

BOX SCORE: Wisconsin 75, Marquette 64

"I thought how we played – other than maybe the first five to seven minutes of the second half – is how we kind of envision what this team can be," Gard said. "We’ve gotten better as the season has (progressed).

"We knew they would probably make a run. They’re too good of a team not to. But I’m happy with how we responded.

"We were able to regain control of the game and finish it off."

The Badgers (6-2) never trailed and led for 39 minutes 43 seconds in extending their winning streak to four games and opening their three-game gauntlet with an important victory.

UW opens Big Ten play Tuesday at Michigan State (4-3) and faces No. 2 Arizona (7-0) next Saturday in Tucson.

Max Klesmit, who hit the game-winning basket in UW’s overtime victory over the Golden Eagles last season, scored 21 of UW’s 46 points in the opening half to help the Badgers build a 13-point lead.

That topped Klesmit’s previous high at UW (19). He entered the day just 7 of 23 from three-point range (30.8%) but hit 5 of 8 attempts in the opening half.

Klesmit didn’t score after halftime but finished 5 of 10 from three-point range, 6 of 12 overall and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line and his teammates picked up the slack in recording the team’s best victory of the young season.

Replay: Review our live updates from the Marquette-Wisconsin game

"Max did a great job today," Steven Crowl said.

Crowl and Tyler Wahl, averaging a combined 21.9 points and 13.3 rebounds per game, helped the Badgers dominate Marquette on the glass.

Crowl finished with 16 points, four offensive rebounds and eight rebounds overall. He hit 5 of 6 shots and 6 of 8 free throws. Wahl finished with 10 points, four offensive rebounds and seven rebounds overall.

"Those two guys on the glass are a load," Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. "We did a poor job against them."

UW dominated two key areas: rebounding and free-throw shooting.

The Badgers won the rebounding battle, 38-23, and had a huge edge in second-chance points (18-2).

The Badgers came in shooting 73.9% from the free-throw line. They hit 17 of 19 attempts (89.5%) in the opening half and finished 24 of 28 (85.7%).

Marquette hit 11 of 14 free throws.

AJ Storr played sparingly in his two games against Marquette last season when he was a freshman at St. John’s.

Storr contributed 13 points and five rebounds Saturday.

Chucky Hepburn was outstanding in his first two games against the Golden Eagles (17.0 points, 67.0% shooting). He contributed nine points, six rebounds and four assists Saturday.

Freshman reserve John Blackwell added six points for UW.

Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek led Marquette with 19 and 11 points, respectively.

The Golden Eagles shot just 24.1% from three-point range (7 of 29), a season-low 41.8% overall (23 of 55) and finished with a season-low point total.

Smart explained that he told radio/TV analyst Brian Butch, a former UW player, before the game that he thought this UW team had been underrated so far this season.

"I told Brian: 'Wisconsin is a lot better than people know,'" Smart said. "I didn’t mean here, locally. Around the country. A lot of experience. Tough players. A really good system. Well coached. They’ve got some guys that can make some tough shots."

UW persevered through two key stretches.

Wahl, who has won four of his five meetings with the Golden Eagles, left with 8:44 left in the first half after picking up his second foul.

Led by Klesmit, UW turned a 22-16 lead into a 46-33 halftime lead.

"I think it just shows that every guy on the team really has no fear," Wahl said. "They want to go out there and they want to play their best and it is for the team."

The second pivotal stretch came after Marquette dominated play early in the second half and closed to within a point four times. The last came at 54-53 with 11:26 left.

Crowl responded with a tip-in, Hepburn hit a jumper and Crowl scored inside again for a 60-53 lead. Marquette never got closer than five points after that. When the final buzzer sounded, Badgers fans flooded the court.

"It was just keeping our poise in those timeouts and kind of figuring out what we needed to do," Wahl said. "We talked it out and got it done."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW fans storm court after wire-to-wire win over No. 3 Marquette