Wisconsin vs. Washington Recap: Carrington’s Record-Setting Afternoon Leads Badgers to 20th Win
Braeden Carrington sets a new program record with 9 triples as the Badgers dismantle Washington to keep the double-bye dream alive.
Just days after attempting a program record in three-pointers against Oregon, the Wisconsin basketball team doubled down in Seattle. This time, the shots didn’t just fall—they poured. Behind a legendary performance from Braeden Carrington, the Wisconsin Badgers (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten) dismantled Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena to secure their 20th win of the season.
The victory marks the eighth time in ten seasons under Greg Gard that the program has reached the 20-win threshold. Furthermore, with their 12th conference win, the Badgers have now won at least 12 Big Ten games in back-to-back seasons.
The Braeden Carrington Show
If you weren’t watching the bench, you missed the story of the game. Senior Braeden Carrington delivered one of the most efficient scoring outbursts in program history, dropping a career-high 32 points in just 27 minutes of action.
Carrington was a flamethrower from deep, shooting 9-of-15 from three-point range. His nine makes set a new Wisconsin single-game record, surpassing the previous mark of eight held by Bronson Koenig and Brad Davison.
Carrington was also perfect from the charity stripe, going 5-for-5 at the free-throw line. His 32 points led to a massive 39-13 scoring advantage for the Wisconsin bench.
Efficiency and Ball Security
In our preview, we worried about the “Panic Volume” of three-point attempts. While Wisconsin attempted another high volume of threes (38), the results were drastically different.
• Historic Accuracy: The Badgers hit a season-high 17 three-pointers (44.7%), marking the most triples ever made by a Wisconsin team in a road game.
• Ball Security: Unlike the frantic stretches in Eugene, the Badgers were incredibly disciplined with the rock, turning the ball over just 6 times. Wisconsin is now 17-2 on the season when recording 10 or fewer turnovers.
• Balanced Starters: Nick Boyd continued his stellar season with 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Boyd has now scored 588 points this season, matching Alando Tucker’s 2005-06 mark for 14th place on the school’s single-season scoring list. Nolan Winter also contributed 13 points and 9 rebounds, hitting 3-of-5 from deep.
Defensive Lockdown & Game Flow
While the offense grabbed the headlines, the game was essentially won in the first 20 minutes. Greg Gard’s defense smothered the Huskies, holding them to just 21 first-half points on 25% shooting—the fewest points Washington has scored in a half all season.
Wisconsin led by as many as 28 points in the second half. While Washington’s Hannes Steinbach eventually found his rhythm to finish with 22 points and 11 rebounds, the game was never in doubt after the break. Wisconsin improved to 18-0 this season when scoring at least 80 points and remains a perfect 26-0 all-time under Gard when reaching the 90-point mark.
That covers the fireworks in Seattle. But what does this mean for Chicago? Below for our Paid Backers, we dive into the updated Big Ten standings, the ‘Michigan Rule’ tiebreaker that now favors the Badgers, and a look at our updated bracketology floor following this 6th Quad 1 victory.
