Biggest takeaways from Wisconsin Badgers' 80-72 win over UCLA

MADISON, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin was 10 seconds away from registering one of its biggest wins of the year when UCLA junior forward Eric Dailey Jr. went in for a stat-stuffing layup.

Badgers junior center Nolan Winter wasn't going to stand for it, going for the block and delivering a hard foul that Dailey took exception to with a shove in the back after the whistle.

A scrum ensued with no further incident, Winter got a flagrant one, Dailey and Wisconsin guard Nick Boyd got offsetting technicals, and the Badgers showed they still have plenty of fight left after a rugged first half of the season.

"I didn't really mean to get a flagrant," Winter said, "but I didn't want to give him any free points. We play to the whistle."

Recap: In a game it felt like Wisconsin needed to have, the #Badgers put four players in double figures and hit 10 threes to outlast UCLA, 80-72, at the Kohl Center https://t.co/wmllH4RUnE
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) January 7, 2026

The lengthy delay and free throws only delayed the inevitable of Wisconsin's 80-72 victory over UCLA. It was the Badgers' first victory over a team in the KenPom top 40 and a critical game to win after UW's blowout loss to Nebraska on December 10, looking uncompetitive at times Saturday to No.5 Purdue, and getting ready to go to No.2 Michigan on Saturday.

"Over these last couple weeks, we've just been getting push around too much," Boyd said. "I just had to have his back. That's the mentality we carrying with us for the rest of the year."

Here are my takeaways from Wisconsin's 10th win.

Boyd delivered in countless ways

If there's one thing Wisconsin's point guard learned about playing basketball in the playgrounds of New York, it's that when he can push the ball when he gets the rebound.

Boyd brought his New York mindset in a game that felt like the Badgers needed to have. His eight rebounds set a season high, (two away from his career-high of 10 set in 2022), and gave him five opportunities to score at the rim or at the line by being aggressive after getting a rebound.

The graduate senior is naturally aggressive but pushing tempo was of high importance against a UCLA team that likes to muck things up defensively in low-possession games. The Bruins play now how Wisconsin used to play, settling for low possession games and leaning on their veteran scorers and grinding defense to win. UCLA ranks 261st nationally in possessions per game and 267th in KenPom's adjusted tempo metric.

UW hit UCLA's average at 67 possessions but averaged 1.194 points per possession to score the third-most points the Bruins had allowed this season.

"It's just our mindset," Boyd said. "Going back to these last couple practices, our mindset, our intensity, our grit, our togetherness ... We came to practice ready to work."

He was largely responsible for getting the Badgers' three-point shooting back in rhythm, either making or delivering the right pass to an open shooter on four of UW's eight three-point makes in the first half.

It was the most threes UW has made in a half against a power-conference opponent since hitting nine against Northwestern on December 3 and helped Wisconsin to open up a 20-point lead a little more than 10 minutes into the game.

The three-point barrage slowed after halftime (2-for-14) but six different players hit threes.

"It creates energy," head coach Greg Gard said of the threes. "As much as you try to say don't get emotionally attached to your shot going in or not, we got good looks, we knocked them down, took the right ones. That energizes both ends of the floor."

For Boyd, his 20-points, eight-rebound, five-assist night made him just the fifth Badger to hit those numbers since 2010, joining Ethan Happ (7), Johnny Davis (2) and John Blackwell (1).

Connected and energetic on defense

Make no mistake that the Badgers caught a break (much-needed?) with senior guard Skyy Clark sitting out with a hamstring injury. Taking one of the best perimeter shooters off the floor was game changing, evidence by UCLA going 1-for-17 on three-point shots.

However, the Badgers were willing to take a page out of UCLA's playbook and muddy the water around the basket. It worked beautifully considering the Bruins trailed by 20 in the first half, had nothing going around the rim, and saw their best two players neutralized and unable to attempt shots.

Leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau while point guard Donovan Dent didn't score for the first 12+ minutes and neither attempted more than one shot in the game's first 10. Both players eventually got some things going in the second half, but Bilodeau finished with three points under his average (boosted by three free throws in the final 10 seconds), and Dent had a plus/minus of minus-8, as he ended up playing 40 minutes without Clark on the floor.

"Our communication was really high level," said Winter, who finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and no turnovers. "The last two days of rpactice have probably been some of our best practices all year from a communication standpoint and a defensive standpoint."

Regardless, UW sticking to its plan of switching, loading the post, and guard the backside to prevent lobs at the rim made all four Bruins who reached double figures work. Dailey Jr. needed 17 shots for 18 points, Trent Perry needed 12 shots to score 15, Bilodeau needed 12 to get 16, and Dent needed nine to score 13.

Shutting down those two helped Wisconsin hold UCLA scoreless for a 4:11 and a 3:12 stretch in the first half, as the Bruins 31 first-half points were the fewest UW has allowed in Big Ten play.

"Our offensive struggles were so bad, it had our heads messed up on the other end," UCLA coach Mick Cronin said.

Aggressive Rohde a good thing for UW

Wisconsin senior guard Andrew Rohde is as good as any of the players in Gard's rotation in creating out of the ball screen and defending, but being aggressive hasn't been a strength.

Of all the slumping shooters on Wisconsin's roster, Rohde's funk was the most surprising beause the senior wasn't hunting his shot. Rohde had been shooting a good percentage (43.0 percent) from the floor but his volume was down. In 24.8 minutes per game, Rohde was attempting 5.5 shots per game (second-fewest of his career). He also wasn't getting to the foul line, evidenced by his 13 free throw attempts in 14 games.

It felt like UW made it a point to get Rohde involved with the ball in his hands and working the pick-and-roll, either looking for rim rollers or allow him to attack. The latter could be the thing that gets him going.

The Bruins failed to box out Rohde on two possessions, allowing Rohde to clean up a missed Winter layup, draw contact, and make two fouls to a putback, only to do it again on the last possession of the half when Rohde secured a short Winter three-pointer and converted the putback before time expired.

Rohde stayed aggressive in the second half, driving baseline and hitting a layup through contact for a chance at a three-point play and hit Aleksas Bieliauskas on a rim roll for an uncontested dunk a possession later.

Throw in his defense in frustrating Perry and Rohde's 12 points (his second-highest total as a Badger) and season-high six rebounds were a huge addition.

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