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Biggest takeaways from Wisconsin Badgers' 76-66 overtime loss to Villanova

The Wisconsin Badgers are still searching for a complete performance after slow starts in the first half and overtime cost them a Quad-1 win
Benjamin Worgull|
Dec 19, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Tempers flared in the final seconds of game between Wisconsin Badgers and Villanova Wildcats at the Fiserv Forum.
Dec 19, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Tempers flared in the final seconds of game between Wisconsin Badgers and Villanova Wildcats at the Fiserv Forum. | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

MILWAUKEE - Falling at the hands of another Quad-1 nonconference opponents, each one becoming more frustrating and agonizing than the last, Nolan Winter couldn't hold back his emotions anymore.

The University of Wisconsin's junior center delivered one of his finest college games. He hit his first seven shots on his way to a career-high 23 points. His 11 rebounds gave him his sixth double-double of the season and his defense was arguably the best its been with two blocks and multiple altered shots.

It still wasn't enough, not with the Badgers coming out flat on both ends in the first half and letting momentum slip away in overtime.

"This team is full of winners," said Winter, fighting back tears. "Myself, I know I am a winner, and to go through some losses and trials like that, it's not what I hold this team to be. I know we got more in the tank. I know what it means to wear Wisconsin across our chest. To go out there and not show the effort that the state of Wisconsin deserves, the program deserves for the first 20 minutes ... it needs to be a full 40."



It's hard to put a December nonconference game in the "must win" category but it certainly felt like it with the emotions of Winter and the tone of senior point guard Nick Boyd and head coach Greg Gard. The same issues that have plagued the Badgers (7-4) since the beginning of season were still present.

UW played an ugly brand of basketball in the first 20 minutes, looked cohesive in the second 20 minutes, and then fell apart in overtime in allowing the Wildcats to score 11 points on their first five possessions.

It's a familiar narrative that has prevented the Badgers from beating a top-tier opponent all season, not to mention failing to register any signature nonconference victory.

Here are my takeaways from Fiserv Forum.

The second-half stretch showed some guts

A disastrous first half put Wisconsin down by as many as 15 points early in the second half (more on that below), but the plays the Badgers made down the stretch was the little bit of solace the Gard said he was going to hold on to moving forward.

The deficit was still 12 with 9:10 to go when Wisconsin made a sustained push.

A 9-0 run was punctuated by Boyd ripping the ball out of Villanova guard Devin Askew's hands and drawing a flagrant foul when Askew fouled him to prevent the fast break. He went 1-for-2 from the line to cut the deficit to six with 7:02 remaining and John Blackwell hit a three to make it a three-point game.

Boyd kept attacking delivering a layup through traffic and a back cut off a Winter pass to bring the Badgers within 54-53, the closest they'd been to Villanova since the 17:25 mark of the first half.

UW's final offensive possession was a dose of good fortune. Boyd committed a turnover outside the three-point arc with 1:04 to go (one of 16 turnovers that led to 15 Wildcats points), but Villanova missed the front end of the bonus. Blackwell was fouled on his run to the rim on the ensuing possession, made the first and missed the second, only to be bailed out by forward Aleksas Bieliauskas' hustle play to get the ball back to Wisconsin on an inbounds.

Winter short-armed an open shot but Villanova's Matt Hodge's no-look pass attempt in trying to save the ball from going out of bounds went right to Winter. He didn't miss his second attempt, tying the score with 31.6 seconds left.

"Really it's just the simple stuff we need to get a whole lot better at, but throughout the whole second we all felt super connected," Winter said. "We were playing with a little fire in us that we need to take with us for the rest of the season."

After shooting 41.9 percent in the first half, the Wildcats went 8-for-29 in the second half, including missing 15 of their last 20 shots in the final 15-plus minutes. Andrew Rohde had one of the biggest defensive plays when he forced guard Acaden Lewis to a tough mid-range jump shot in the final seconds to force overtime.

"The second half showed who we can be, who we need to be," Gard said. "it's what we've been asking for in terms of the effort and commitment on the defensive end, claw yourself back from down 15."

"Those guys that did that were a part of that five or six guys, showed me who i need to have on the floor. Other guys need to rise to the expectations."

Wisconsin's first half was too much to overcome

Gard called the Badgers soft for their defensive performance against Nebraska. He can use that adjective for UW's offensive approach.

The defense wasn't the main culprit in the opening 20 minutes, although the Badgers still lost some perimeter shooters while locking down the paint, as much as UW forgot to keep sharp its offense averaging over 85 points per game.

The lack-of-toughness factor bears out on the stat sheet. The Badgers didn't finish around the rim, going 2-for-8 on layups, and didn't attempt a free throw.

The problem in Lincoln was Wisconsin didn't take the right kind of shots. Of Wisconsin's 32 three-point attempts, Wisconsin's coaching staff graded out 15 being bad shots, compounded by UW going 1-for-15 on those attempts.

Against Villanova, it's not that Wisconsin took quick shots that led to easy transition looks, it was the Badgers worked too hard to avoid the bad ones. An abundance of passing gave off the impression that nobody wanted to shoot, and no offensive rebounds on the first 12 possessions showed UW was more focused on getting back on defense than crashing the glass.

UW also appeared gun shy to shoot from the perimeter. The Badgers' nine three-point attempts in the opening half were the fewest in any half this season.

Blackwell had a nightmarish first half, held scoreless on three shots while committing two turnovers and two fouls in 14 minutes. He was more aggressive in the second half, scoring 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting, but went 0-for-4 in overtime and finished 2-for-7 on shots at the rim.

Since being named Big Ten Player of the Week, Blackwell is 6-for-25 from the floor

Winter shows he can be a big-game player

Winter has had several solid productive outings this season but hasn't had a game where the Badgers badly needed his offense as they did against the Wildcats. He stepped up to the plate.

The junior made his first seven shots, including a career-high three three-pointers, but it was his work down the stretch that was momentus.

He followed his three-pointer with a little flip shot in the post that got the shooters roll to cut the lead to seven. The 7-footer then stood up defensively. He blocked Villanova's Duke Brennan one-on-one in the low post and stood tall to alter reserve forward Tafara Gapare's point-blank look in the low block.

There were countless other instances that won't show up in the box score, too, like Winter diving on the floor to fight Villanova's Duke Brennan - one of the nation's leaders in rebounding - for loose balls and coming away with possessions for Wisconsin.

"When I was first in the portal, and they said Nolan Winter was coming back, that's guy I want to play with," Boyd said. "He showed that today. As a leader, that's what we expect out of him and I know he expects that out of himself."

Winter was so effective that he played 43 out of a possible 45 minutes. It also showed that the Badgers have some trust issues around him in the frontcourt. Bieliauskas had six rebounds but was 1-for-4 from the floor, committed four fouls, and had three turnovers. Austin Rapp attempted two three-point shots, no twos, and had no rebounds in nearly 16 minutes.

Will Garlock played a one-minute stretch in the first half and didn't see the floor again.

"I am not asking Nolan to hold back or slow up and let everybody else catch up to him," Gard said. "The bar has been set, and those younger guys, new guys, they got to step forward, and they got to mature, grow, and improve at a fast rate."

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Benjamin Worgull
BENJAMIN WORGULL

Benjamin Worgull has covered Wisconsin men's basketball since 2004, having previously written for Rivals, USA Today, 247sports, Fox Sports, the Associated Press, the Janesville Gazette, and the Wisconsin State Journal.

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