Wisconsin Badgers plan to stick with small-ball lineup that gave Michigan fits

The Wisconsin Badgers are a team with great length but not great size.

For most of the 2025-26 season, the lack of size has felt like a deficiency. But now, Greg Gard and the Badgers are turning it into a strength.

Wisconsin's de facto sixth man, sophomore Austin Rapp, has been injured for the past two games.

Without Rapp, who has exclusively played the power forward position, the Badgers have been shorthanded in the frontcourt.

Nolan Winter has been incredibly reliable, but freshmen Aleksas Bieliauskas and Will Garlock have been hit or miss.

Aleksas Bieliauskas has 5️⃣ from DEEP 💥 @BadgerMBB

📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/f4sRwFM8bc
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) January 10, 2026

That meant the Badgers were going to have to play smaller, at least for a little while.

It's an experiment that has awarded Gard another way to attack opponents going forward.

Four-guard lineup isn't disappearing when Rapp returns

Behind the scenes, the Badgers had toyed with the idea of playing with one traditional big before Rapp went down.

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"We felt small-ball was a thing we could take advantage of," Gard said after practice Sunday. "Obviously, our guys have done a good job of filling into those roles."

The Badgers had used a four-guard lineup sparingly before facing UCLA, the team's first game without Rapp. It showed on the court, as Wisconsin went minus-18 across 23 minutes with its small-ball iterations.

Still, it caught Gard's attention.

"I think the effort and the energy we played with, the toughness we played with... the mobility goes up when we play a little smaller lineup," Gard said. "We're still figuring out the offensive roles within that."

Against Michigan, the small-ball lineups may have been the difference.

Related: Wisconsin Badgers saved their season with shocking upset win over No. 2 Michigan

The Badgers went to a four-guard lineup when they fell behind 31-17 in the first half, and they ran with four guards for the next 3:39.

The Badgers are fighting!

It's a one-point game on CBS. pic.twitter.com/xpeAKbzW5M
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) January 10, 2026

Wisconsin scored on seven of its eight offensive possessions during that span, including a pair of Nick Boyd free throws that technically came after a second forward subbed in. The lineup forced two turnovers and three shooting fouls while going plus-9.

The spurt made it a five-point game with just under four minutes left in the first half, and it gave the Badgers the momentum and energy necessary to bring it to within one point at halftime.

Braeden Carrington and Jack Janicki's efforts were central to the small-ball success.

Carrington was aggressive and impactful on both ends of the floor. He finished the game with 12 free throw attempts on seven fouls drawn, nine rebounds, four assists and no turnovers. On top of that, he collected a steal and a block.

This is easily Braden Carrington’s best game for Wisconsin, exactly why the Badgers got him out of the portal. He is making every critical hustle play.
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) January 10, 2026

Janicki was all over the court on the defensive end, being disruptive and not skipping a beat on rotations.

"They played unbelievable," Nolan Winter said of Carrington and Janicki. "They played their butts off. We absolutely needed them to as well, in a game like that."

Beyond their individual efforts, the lineup's cumulative mobility and ability to threaten the defense by dribbling, passing or shooting overloaded Michigan's dominant defense.

The constant pressure offered by Wisconsin's knockdown shooting forced Michigan to hug the three-point line.

When a Badgers' player managed to turn the corner on a ball screen, Wisconsin could punish the Wolverines in a multitude of ways. The ball-handler could kick it out, drive to the rim, or dump off a pass for an easy bucket.

Eventually, this led to major miscommunications and poor rotations by Michigan, generating quality shots for Wisconsin consistently.

Defensively, it gave the Badgers more options, too.

"I think it just throws them a different look, with four guards out there," Winter said. "Being able to switch one through five at times if we need to, and it's just scout specific, but I think having that group a little more, (in) transition, get out and run a little bit and just have that defensive versatility when we need it."

Gard didn't offer much when pressed about Rapp's status ahead of Tuesday's game against Minnesota, noting that the sophomore forward participated in portions of Sunday's practice while still not being 100 percent.

But whether Rapp is given the green light Tuesday, expect the Badgers to build on the success by their four-guard lineups in Ann Arbor.

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