These 3 Badgers Present Big Challenges for MSU on Friday
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Friday's matchup has gotten a bit juicier.
No. 10 Michigan State (20-4 overall, 10-3 Big Ten) is headed to Madison to face Wisconsin (17-7, 9-4). The Badgers have been up and down this season, but are suddenly feeling good about themselves after upsetting No. 8 Illinois on the road in overtime on Tuesday night. MSU, of course, most recently took down the Fighting Illini in overtime as well, but that game was a home game for the Spartans.
Wisconsin only has a 2-6 record during Quad 1 games, but those two wins came at No. 2 Michigan and Illinois. It's as good of a pair of wins for any team in the country, especially a team that's currently unranked, so the threat is certainly there for UW.
There are three players who lead the way for the Badgers. Here's a breakdown of each of them and how they pose a challenge for Michigan State in this one:
G Nick Boyd
The star for Wisconsin is point guard Nick Boyd. He's averaging a team-best 20.2 points per game to go with 3.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest. Boyd used to play for now-Michigan head coach Dusty May at Florida Atlantic and was a starter on that 2022-23 Owls squad that made the Final Four.
Ironically enough, FAU's run ended in the national semifinal to San Diego State on a do-or-die buzzer beater. After one more season at Florida Atlantic, Boyd made his way over to play for the Aztecs for a year before landing with Wisconsin for his final year of eligibility as a sixth-year senior. Boyd is still eligible because his true freshman season was during COVID, and then he redshirted the following season.
G John Blackwell
Second on the Badgers in scoring is two-guard John Blackwell. A Bloomfield Hills, Mich. native who attended Brother Rice, you kick yourself and wish MSU hadn't allowed Blackwell to leave the state. He finished as a three-star prospect ranked 211th overall in the class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Blackwell was certainly under-recruited; Wisconsin is his only power conference offer listed on 247Sports.
So far this season, Blackwell has averaged 18.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He can really shoot it --- he's making about 37% of his shots from behind the arc on about seven attempts per game. Both Boyd and Blackwell get to the line a lot --- nearly 12 combined free throw attempts per game --- so the Jeremy Fears Jr. and Jordan Scott assignments in this one will be interesting for Michigan State.
F Nolan Winter
Also keep an eye out for Wisconsin's five-man: Nolan Winter. Listed at 7-foot-0, Winter is both a problem on the glass and with his ability to stretch the floor.
So far this season, he's averaged a team-high 8.9 rebounds per game. His three-point percentage isn't tremendous, down at 32.9% for the season, but it's good enough that it will draw MSU's Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler away from the paint defensively a bit.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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