Wisconsin Basketball Notes: Inside the Historic Comeback vs. Minnesota
Key stats and historical records from the Badgers' 18-point comeback win over the Gophers.
It wasn’t pretty for the first 20 minutes, but the Wisconsin basketball team stormed back from an 18-point deficit to extend its winning streak over the Minnesota Gophers to 11 games.
John Blackwell and Nick Boyd sparked the second-half rally, finishing with 23 and 21 points, respectively.
Jack Janicki provided crucial minutes off the bench, logging 23 minutes—just one shy of his season-high set against UCLA. Braeden Carrington also played a major role, logging 27 minutes in relief after starting forward Aleksas Bieliauskas left the game early with an apparent ankle injury.
Here are the postgame notes and notable team and individual statistics following Wisconsin’s victory over Minnesota, courtesy of UW Athletics.
Team Notes
Historic Comeback: Wisconsin overcame an 18-point halftime deficit (35-17), tying the school record for the largest second-half comeback in program history.
Previous record holders: vs. Indiana (2021), vs. Ohio State (1976), and vs. Marquette (1948).
Border Battle Dominance: The Badgers have now won 11 straight games against Minnesota, extending the longest winning streak in the history of the rivalry (dating back to 1890).
UW improves to 22-2 all-time against Minnesota at the Kohl Center.
Tale of Two Halves: After shooting just 17.9% (5-of-28) in the first half, Wisconsin shot a scorching 70.0% in the second half to erase the deficit.
Conference Standings: With the win, Wisconsin improves to 15-6 overall and 7-3 in the Big Ten, remaining firmly in the upper tier of the conference race.
Individual Notes
John Blackwell finished with a game-high 23 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 19 seconds remaining.
It marked his 16th double-digit scoring game of the season.
He scored the team’s final 7 points to seal the victory.
Nick Boyd tallied 21 points, scoring 19 of them in the second half to spark the rally.
Boyd connected on 4-of-9 from 3-point range.
This was his 12th game with 20+ points this season, ranking him 2nd in the Big Ten in that category.
Nolan Winter contributed 9 points and was a key factor on the glass in the second half.
Greg Gard Era
Big Ten Success: Greg Gard has now led Wisconsin to a 7-3 (or better) start in Big Ten play for the 6th time in 11 seasons.
Home Court Advantage: Under Gard, Wisconsin is now 15-2 in home games against Minnesota.
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