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Badgers' hot shooting is helping Wisconsin put up historic offensive numbers this season

The Wisconsin Badgers are scoring at a rate this season that they haven't done in over 30 years, thanks to some red hot shooting from Greg Gard's squad.
Lorin Cox|
Wisconsin Badgers guard John Blackwell (25) shoots the ball during the second half against Penn State.
Wisconsin Badgers guard John Blackwell (25) shoots the ball during the second half against Penn State. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers are playing their best basketball of the season right now, and it's leading them to put up historic numbers this team hasn't reached in 30 years.

Their 98-71 win over Penn State on Thursday was the team’s largest Big Ten road win under Greg Gard and the biggest since 2014.

It also marked the eighth game this season that Wisconsin has scored 90 or more points. That's the most games the Badgers have hit that mark since 1994.

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They still have 12 games left to add to that number.

Their current five-game winning streak has included three games over 90 points. It marks the third-straight season that Wisconsin has strung together a five-game winning streak durning Big Ten Conference play.

Over this stretch, the Badgers are shooting 41 percent from deep, averaging over 13 threes per game.

Braeden Carrington has been a big part of that sharpshooting, hitting over 50 percent of his three-point attempts over the last eight games.

John Blackwell has scored 17 or more points in each of the five-straight victories, while Nick Boyd has reached double figures in every game this season.

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It's a welcomed turnaround for a Wisconsin group that started slow with plenty of struggles as Greg Gard and his staff tried to find more of a team identity.

The Badgers scored just 60 in a loss to Nebraska and only 63 in the loss to TCU.

Now, they seem to be scoring at will and playing significantly better defense along the way.

It helps that the quality of opponent has lightened up on their schedule, but the win over then-undefeated Michigan proved that this team can be dangerous against any opponent.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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