University of Wisconsin men’s basketball guard Max Klesmit chuckled.

The senior was asked about his frustrations before Thursday, the inability to find his shot through the Badgers’ Red-White Scrimmage, their exhibition against UW-River Falls and their season opener against Holy Cross following a slow summer of practice managing an injury, shooting 6 of 29 in the three combined. 

But Klesmit said with a grin he doesn’t worry about the shooting numbers that come out of the preseason. Of course, for that reason, what he’s experienced can’t be described as a slump. 

“We played one real game,” Klesmit said flatly. “This was the second game of the year.”

But Klesmit did admit Thursday it’s nice when he sees a few 3s fall. He poured in 26 points, serving as a key catalyst for the Badgers in a strong offensive performance to stave off any meaningful late-game run from an experienced Montana State team in a 79-67 win Thursday night in the Kohl Center.

Yet more than just hitting 6 of 11 3-pointers (with his 3s accounting for all but one of his made field goals in a 7-of-15 shooting performance), Klesmit was able to get offense in other ways and within the flow of the game.

Klesmit connected on 6 of 6 free throws, snuck to the rim for a layup and almost connected on a few more aggressive drives throughout the game. Though he never had any level of concern over his poor shooting in meaningless contests, the arrival of the (almost) full potential of Klesmit’s offense is a positive sign for Wisconsin.

Klesmit has a new, more featured role this year as the Badgers have taken 55 3-pointers in their first two games. Monday against Holy Cross, it was graduate guard John Tonje who led the way with 23 points. Sophomore guard John Blackwell will provide steady scoring, too. But when it’s time for someone on the wing to erupt, Klesmit will have every opportunity to be the player that does that this year. Thursday was the first evidence of how strong the Badgers’ offense could be when Klesmit’s shot is falling.

“He’s not going to go 1 for 7 very much or for very long,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said, “but he’s been putting a lot of time in working with our coaching staff, cleaning up some things with the shot, and just getting more reps. Shooters shoot. And obviously, he was feeling it tonight.”

Perhaps the reason there was no level of concern from the Badgers was how Klesmit was playing in other aspects of the game. The energy-driver of Wisconsin’s starting lineup, Klesmit had picked up on defense even before his shot got going. He had two steals — and several more deflections — in the season opener against the Crusaders before adding two more steals Thursday.

That’s simple to see. The shooting, though, he described with a metaphor. Klesmit plays a lot of golf, which he has shared a lot through his time with the Badgers. It’s not all 320-yard drives on the fairway, he said. Sometimes you shoot it into the rough, or too long.

“But you get to play hole two,” Klesmit said.

So Klesmit entered the matchup with the Bobcats with that same mindset — there will be another shot. With just over 12 minutes left in the first half, Klesmit sized up his defender and stepped back to drain his first 3 of the game. While it was his first Thursday, he had made a 3 so far this season. What makes Klesmit lethal is when he’s able to pour them in bunches.

So the next possession, he fed graduate forward Steven Crowl by the free throw line from the left wing, relocated for a pass back on the right wing, and drained another. That second make was something different from Monday. Klesmit has a knack for parlaying explosion into more of it, something the Badgers saw on occasion despite inconsistencies last year. He tried a heat check on the left wing, and missed short.

But it’s that willingness to shoot in bunches that shows Klesmit’s promise as a potential go-to option in a 3-point heavy offense. Early in the second half, Klesmit pulled up for a 3 on the left wing, then off a pass from Tonje in the opposite corner, putting Wisconsin up 47-36. Both times, he looked to the bench and flexed. His 3s marked a point of the game — 18 minutes, 18 seconds remaining — where the experienced Montana State group really didn’t seem a threat of taking the game any longer.

And that still was the case even after he, again, tried a heat-check step-back 3 over tight defense the next time down the floor. Gard joked he couldn’t pull him out of the game fast enough to prevent 35-footer. 

“He says he’s tired, so that’s not the time to jack it from 35 feet,” Gard said with a grin.

But Gard added Klesmit’s a competitor, and that’s him feeling in a rhythm. And it was good for the Badgers coach to see a few go in, too.

“I feel like everywhere where I got on the floor, I’m comfortable,” Klesmit said. “There’s no bad shot that I’m kind of scared to take.”

Late in a game that was over is one example. The Badgers were slow-playing things a bit with just over a minute left in the contest, but Klesmit had the ball in his hands with a play to make. If Thursday could be considered a get-right game for the senior, it would seem he was trying to get the most out of it he could.

Klesmit crossed left, pulled back right and rose, draining his sixth and final make from deep with 1:03 left to push Wisconsin’s lead to 79-65. He pointed forward and barked at the Badgers’ bench. The team felt the energy all game, right down to the final minute. And it’s something they hope to feel often this season.