Postgame notes after Wisconsin’s 88-61 victory over Central Michigan
Notes and notable statistics from the Badgers' victory over the Central Michigan Chippewas.
The Wisconsin men’s basketball team (8-4) is back in the win column after a two-game skid. It took the Badgers a little bit to pull away, but eventually they put their foot on the gas and thoroughly defeated Central Michigan.
Junior guard John Blackwell missed the game with an injury, but guard Braeden Carrington was back in action after missing the Badgers’ game against Villanova last Friday.
Austin Rapp and Nolan Winter led all scorers with 18 points each. Winter added eight rebounds and two assists.
Freshman guard Hayden Jones had his first career start in place of Blackwell, scoring six points in 24 minutes. Freshman guard Zach Zinziger appeared in his first game of the season after he was initially going to redshirt. He played 13 minutes, scoring six points, going 2-4 from deep.
Here are the postgame notes and notable team and individual statistics following Wisconsin’s victory over Marquette via the Wisconsin athletic department.
Team Notes
Wisconsin improved to 8-4 overall with an 88-61 win over Central Michigan on Monday.
UW improved to 4-2 all-time against Central Michigan, including a 4-0 record in Madison
UW is now 81-25 (.764) in regular season, non-conference games under Gard, including a mark of 58-5 (.921) at the Kohl Center.
Head coach Greg Gard is now 221-121 (.646) as the head coach at Wisconsin.
Wisconsin scored 44 bench points in the win, led by Austin Rapp’s 18 points.
The 44 bench points marked the most in a game for UW since at least the 2006-07 season.
Badger bench players accounted for 10 of UW’s 13 3PT makes in the win.
Wisconsin had 11 players score in the win, tied for the most this season (Northern Illinois)
The Badgers shot 53.7% from the field in the win (29-for-54) - the highest mark of the season.
The Badgers’ 29 field goals came off a season- high 25 assists.
The last time the Badgers collected 25 assists was last season’s win vs Iowa (1/3/25).
The game marked the first time in at least the past 20 years that UW totaled 25 or more assists on fewer than 30 field goal makes.
The 25 assists came with just 9 turnovers.
It’s the first time since at least 2004-05 that the Badgers had over 25 assists and fewer than 10 turnovers in a game.
The Badgers are 6-0 this season when turning over the ball fewer than 10 times.
UW went 13-for-31 from the 3-point line (41.9%).
The Badgers are averaging 11.0 3FGs per game, which matches Nebraska for the most in the Big Ten and ranks 15th nationally.
The Badgers have made double-digit triples in 8 of 12 games this season, going 7-1 in such games.
UW held CMU scoreless for 5:07 between 16:15-11:08, the longest stretch for the Badgers since their opening game vs Campbell.
Wisconsin outrebounded Central Michigan 41-22, tied for the highest rebound differential of the season (19 vs Ball State).
Individual Notes
Sophomore Austin Rapp collected 18 pointsand 7 rebounds while shooting 7-for-10 from the field and 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
Rapp’s 18 points are his second-highest total of the season, previously scoring 20 against Providence this season.
Junior Nolan Winter tallied 18 points and 8 rebounds, while shooting an efficient 6-for-9 from the field.
Winter now has 10 games this season, scoring in double-digits, including his last 5 games.
Graduate student Nick Boyd posted 12 points.
Boyd has scored in double figures in all 12 games this season and ranks 5th in the Big Ten in scoring this season, averaging 19.4 ppg.
Sophomore Jack Janicki led all players with a career-high 9 assists
Janicki is the second Badger this season with a 9-assist game, joining Andrew Rhode (9 vs Northwestern, 12/3).
Janicki and Rhode are the first pair of Badger teammates to each have a 9+ assist game in a season since Jordan Taylor and Josh Gasser in 2011-12.
Freshman Alexis Bieliauskas collected a career-high 4 assists.
Freshman Will Garlock scored 4 points and hauled in a career-high 5 rebounds. He also played in a career-best 14 minutes.
Freshman Hayden Jones made his first careerstart for the Badgers, scoring a career-high 6 points with 4 rebounds.
Freshman Zach Kinziger made his collegiate debut, scoring 6 points while going 2-for-4 from the 3-point line, and collecting 2 assists.
Wisconsin will finish out the calendar year by playing its final non-conference game on December 30th when they play UW-Milwaukee at the Kohl Center. This will be the Badgers’ final ‘tune-up’ game before they hit what is probably the most difficult stretch of their schedule when they play No. 5 Purdue, UCLA, and No. 2 Michigan in back-to-back-to-back games.
The Badgers and Panthers will tip off at 6:00 PM on BTN.
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