Postgame notes after Wisconsin’s 78-75 victory over Minnesota
Notes and notable statistics from the Badgers' victory over the Minnesota Gophers.
The Wisconsin men’s basketball team stretched its winning streak over the Minnesota Gophers to 10 games last night after John Blackwell hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to win the game for the Badgers.
Wisconsin guard Braede Carrington, a Minnesota native who played two seasons with the Gophers, enjoyed a breakout game in his homecoming. Coming off the bench, Carrington scored 21 points, going 7-12 from three, adding five rebounds and two blocks against his former team. The Badgers were +14 when Carrington was on the floor.
John Blackwell returned to form, scoring 27 points on 8-14 from the floor, 5-7 from three, and 6-6 from the free-throw line.
The Badgers were without forward Austin Rapp for the third-straight game, and forward Aleksas Bieliauskas played under 20 minutes after getting into foul trouble early.
Here are the postgame notes and notable team and individual statistics following Wisconsin’s victory over Minnesota via the Wisconsin athletic department.
Team Notes
Wisconsin won its third-straight game and improved to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten with a 78-75 win at Minnesota on Tuesday.
John Blackwell’s 3FG at the buzzer is Wisconsin’s first game-winning buzzer-beater since Bronson Koenig’s 3FG to beat Xavier in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament (3/20/16).
The last buzzer-beater at regulation was a Chucky Hepburn driving layup to force overtime against Purdue in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament (3/16/24).
Wisconsin’s last road buzzer-beater was a Traevon Jackson 35-foot 3FG to win at Penn State on 3/10/13.
UW has now won 10 straight against Minnesota, matching the school’s longest all-time win streak against the Golden Gophers (1912-16).
Wisconsin’s Longest Win Streaks vs. Minnesota
Wins Years
10 2020-present
10 1912-16
8 2014-18
The Badgers also won their 5th-consecutive game at Minnesota, matching the team’s longest road streak over Minnesota (UW also won 5 straight in Minneapolis from 1912-16).
Wisconsin is now 52-47 in Big Ten road games under head coach Greg Gard, trailing only Purdue for the best road mark in the conference during that span.
Best Big Ten Road Record (Since 2015-16)
Record Pct. Team
57-42 .576 Purdue
52-47 .525 Wisconsin
51-47 .520 Michigan State
45-51 .469 MichiganGreg Gard coached his 200th Big Ten game on Tuesday, improving to 121-79 (.605) in conference play. With the win over Minnesota, Gard passed Johnny Orr (1969-80) for 20th place on the Big Ten’s all-time conference wins list.
Among coaches with 100 Big Ten wins, Gard’s 60.5% win percentage ranks 7th-best in the last 45 years (since 1980).
Wisconsin’s .605 conference win percentage in the Gard era (since 2015-16) trails only Purdue (.722) and Michigan State (.662) for best in the best Big Ten during that span.
Overall, Gard is now 225-122 (.648) in his 11 seasons as head coach at Wisconsin.
Trailing 41-30 with 18:23 left in the second half, the Badgers came back from an 11-point deficit, marking the team’s largest 2nd-half comeback win since erasing a 12-point deficit against Nicholls on 12/15/21.
The Badgers also recorded their largest second-half comeback win on the road since a 13-point rally at Minnesota on 2/16/02.
Wisconsin scored 78 points, its fewest in a win this season. Minnesota entered the game ranked 3rd in the Big Ten, allowing 66.1 ppg.
The Badgers shot 45.5% (25-55) from the field, including 53.8% in the second half. UW has shot 45% or better 10 times this season, going 10-0 in such games.
Wisconsin went 14-for-33 (42.4%) from 3-point range, marking the 6th time UW has connected on 14+ triples this season.
UW’s 6 games with 14+ triples is the most in the Big Ten this season, tied for 3rd nationally, and already equals the 2nd-highest single- season total in Big Ten history.
Most Gms w/ 14+ 3FGs, Single Season, B1G HistoryGms School Season
8 Purdue 2018-19
6 Wisconsin 2025-26
6 Illinois 2024-25
The Badgers have made 10+ triples in a game 11 times this season, matching Illinois for the most in the Big Ten.
On the season, UW is averaging 10.5 3FGs per game, which is tied for 2nd in the Big Ten.
The Badgers had just 7 turnovers, matching their second-fewest in a game this season. UW is averaging 10.2 TOs per game on the season.
The Badgers are 10-0 when turning the ball over 10 or fewer times this season.
Individual Notes
Senior Braeden Carrington scored a career-high 21 points, knocking down a career-best 7 triples (7-for-12). He also added 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal.
Carrington came up just one shy of the UW single-game record for 3FGs and connected on the most treys by a Badger since Brad Davison had 8 at Nebraska on 2/15/20.
Carrington is 1 of just 18 Badgers all-time to hit at least 7 treys in a game.
Carrington has now scored in double digits in back-to-back games, including his 12-point effort at Michigan on Saturday. He has a total of 4 games with 10+ points this season.
Junior John Blackwell finished with 27 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer as the clock expired. He went 5-for-7 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
Blackwell posted at least 20 points for the 7th time this season and the 16th time in his career.
Blackwell reached double digit points for the 12th time this season and 56th time in his career.
Graduate student Nick Boyd tallied 11 points to go with 4 assists and 3 rebounds.
Boyd is 1 of 4 Big Ten players to score in double figures in all 17 games this season and ranks 7th in the Big Ten, averaging 19.2 ppg on the season.
Boyd has 10 assists with 1 turnover in UW’s last 2 games. On the season, he sports a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio with 58 dimes and 29 turnovers.
Junior Nolan Winter notched his 8th double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Winters’ 8 double-doubles rank 3rd in the Big Ten this season. He also moved into 6th place on Wisconsin’s single-season double-doubles list.
Most Double-Doubles, Single Season, Wisconsin
Dbl-Dbls Player (Year)
21 Ethan Happ (2018-19)
14 Frank Kaminsky (2014-15)
11 Ethan Happ (2017-18)
10 Ethan Happ (2015-16)
10 Ethan Happ (2016-17)
8 Nolan Winter (2025-26)
Winter now has 14 games scoring in double figures this season, including 9 of his last 10.
The Badgers will finish the week at home when they host Rutgers on Saturday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights (9-8 overall, 2-4 in Big Ten) are coming off a 77-75 win over Northwestern.
Tipoff for the Rutgers-Wisconsin basketball game will be at 1:00 pm on BTN.
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