The Wisconsin Badgers won a hard-fought 70-63 game over the Northwestern Wildcats on Thursday, using a strong defensive performance to lead the way and move forward in the Big Ten Tournament.

It wasn’t the prettiest game for Wisconsin as the Badgers shot just 41.5 percent from the field and 32 percent from three, but they still managed to get the victory, getting a well-rounded performance from their starters.

The one starter who struggled for good portions of the game was center Steven Crowl, who couldn’t find his footing offensively after an early three-pointer, missing a few one-on-one opportunities, while turning the ball over four times.

However, there was one key moment that could set the tone for Crowl for the remainder of the week: his emphatic block on Northwestern’s Ty Berry driving for a layup with 8:33 remaining in the game.

As Northwestern tried to cut the game to inside double digits, Crowl had his best moment of the game, but drew a technical foul for words he said to Berry following the block.

But, that fire was well-regarded from his teammates, who came over to pump him up.

“There’s definitely been worse said on the court, but it was awesome,” Crowl said after the game. “It was probably warranted, honestly, but yeah, my teammates loved it.”

It isn’t the first time in March that Crowl has gotten animated with an opponent, as he and Purdue’s Zach Edey earned technical fouls for jarring at each other during last year’s Big Ten Tournament semifinals. That moment proved to be crucial as Edey picked up two early fouls in that game, disrupting the flow offensively for Purdue.

“Those [moments] can sometimes honestly be momentum plays if you handle it the right way,” Crowl said.

Overall, it wasn’t the strongest game for Crowl offensively, as he shot 2/7 from the field and only 1/5 inside the arc, which wasn’t pretty along with the four turnovers. But, he looked to impact the game in other ways, securing seven rebounds, with three coming on the offensive end.

Crowl displayed some hustle to get to those boards, but no moment was bigger than his block on Berry, which came at a defining moment for the Badgers, who ran with it and extended their lead from 12 to 18.

The Badgers center needs to be better in bigger games, but his teammates picked him up on Thursday. The block, and subsequent technical foul, could be the extra ammunition Crowl needed to get out of his recent rut, which would be big for the Badgers heading into the next state of the Big Ten Tournament.