All Badgers

Biggest takeaways from Wisconsin Badgers' 96-87 victory over Rutgers

Wisconsin improves to 12-0 when scoring at least 80 points, as the Badgers push their winning streak to four.
Benjamin Worgull|
Nick Boyd (2) and Nolan Winter celebrate during Wisconsin's 96-87 victory over Rutgers on Jan.17, 2026.
Nick Boyd (2) and Nolan Winter celebrate during Wisconsin's 96-87 victory over Rutgers on Jan.17, 2026. | UW Athletics

In this story:

Wisconsin Badgers

MADISON, Wis. - Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell didn't notice a lot of differences between the University of Wisconsin team he saw on film from over two weeks ago to the one he saw playing with a ton of offensive confidence on Saturday afternoon.

That's the main difference with the Badgers, who are starting to see shots - especially the ones from the perimeter - go in with far more regularity.

"They got a lot of weapons," Pikiell said. "They were just in that stretch where they just weren't making threes, which Wisconsin usually always does ... They're in a groove now."

Pushing its winning streak to four after a 96-87 victory over Rutgers, Wisconsin average 1.297 points per possession. UW hitting double-digit threes for a fourth straight game (12-for-30) certainly helps, but the Badgers were plus-eight in the paint, plus-11 from the free-throw line, and had 20 assists on 29 baskets.

It allowed Wisconsin (13-5, 5-2 Big Ten) to be opportunistic with 19 points off 10 forced turnovers and scoring 18 second-chance points off eight offensive rebounds.

It's a level of play that has manifested since the Purdue loss on January 3, a 16-point loss on paper that was deceiving for how uncompetitive the game was over the final 20 minutes.

"It's a lot of internal things that we have really improved on," said center Nolan Winter, who had 19 points on 6-for-6 shooting. "Obviously we're making shots and that helps us look a lot better, but I think internally, every night our mindset's flipped since that game to a more aggressive team rather than take that first blow, getting on our heels early.

"I think on the flip side, we're delivering that, and we're getting teams on their heels first. I think moving forward, if we can continue to do that, we'll be in a good spot."

That early punch was critical, considering the Badgers would have been in trouble had they not landed those early body blows.

My takeaways from the Kohl Center.

Boyd's aggression was a big difference

There have been a few players under head coach Greg Gard tutelage that are good enough to exploit a weakness over, and over, and over again to his advantage. Johnny Davis and John Tonje are two recent examples of those kind of shot makers, and Nick Boyd has quickly entered his name onto that list.

Boyd has been a model of consistency for the Badgers, one of just four players in the conference to reach double figures in every game thus far and second in the league with the number of 20-point games on his resume (10).

He nearly got there on Saturday from the free-throw line alone. Boyd was credited with 10 drawn fouls without committing one and went 14-for-15 from the charity stripe, including 8-for-9 over the final 6:31.

"We can eat at the line, and he got us in the bonus pretty quick," said John Blackwell (19 points). "Credit to him. it's what he does. He keeps pressure on the rim."

Boyd felt like he shortchanged his teammates in Tuesday's 78-75 dramatic victory at Minnesota. He only attempted two shots from the paint, none coming in the second half when the Badgers fell behind by as many as 11.

It's a performance that was in the back of his mind as he saw Rutgers cut a 26-point lead down to seven. Between the 9:15 mark to 3:49 left, Boyd was the only UW player who scored, and he generated his six points by repeatedly attacking the rim and drawing fouls, breaking down a Rutgers team with ten new scholarship players.

"He's ferocious," Gard said. "He's a bulldog. He keeps coming ... That's the (competitive) edge he plays with, the aggressiveness he plays with. He's done a pretty good job here lately of staying in the lines, not getting out of control."

Boyd finished with a career-high nine assists, six coming in the first half that led to 17 Wisconsin points, including the senior swinging a pass to Winter for a corner three before the halftime buzzer that gave the Badgers a 51-29 lead at the break.

"When I get to the paint, I'm able to collapse (the defense)," Boyd said. "These guys just always talking to me like when you get in that paint, just play off two (feet) and find me. As we kept growing together, I'm finding them."

Defense lapses in the second half

It was obvious from the minute he sat down to address reporters that Gard wasn't happy. He had a right to be after watching the Badgers make a game destined to a blowout to be much closer than it needed to be.

Rutgers ranked 276th in scoring (69.8 ppg), 343rd in two-point field goal percentage (44.9), and hadn't scored more than 78 points in regulation against a power-conference team all season.

It showed in the first half when the Badgers held the Scarlet Knights to 29 points and only 12 two-point shots, but the dam broke in the second half when the Badgers stopped delivering aggressive ball pressure or getting into shooters.

The Scarlet Knights hit twice as many threes in the second half than the first (eight), shot 12-for-21 on twos (57.1), and averaged 1.526 points per possession.

Thanks largely to UW's defense allowing guards Harun Zrno (21 points) and Tariq Francis (15) get loose and create, Rutgers' 58 points was the most Wisconsin has allowed in any half this season.

"First half, as a team, we were connected all together," Winter said. "We started the game out with some fire and a little bit of edge to us. Going into halftime, I don't know if we got a little complacent or whatever it was, we lost that edge in the second half ... Moving forward, we need two complete halves of basketball from us."

Depth at frontcourt

After playing close to 36 minutes against Michigan and close to 39 minutes at Minnesota, Winter logged only 32 minutes against Rutgers.

He looked refreshed, largely because the Badgers got some depth back behind him.

Sophomore Austin Rapp back into the bench rotation after a three-game absence and logged nearly 10 minutes, contributing a rebound and a steal. UW also leaned more on freshman Will Garlock, who played less than five combined minutes the previous two games but had four points and four rebounds in his first four minutes on the floor.

Gard felt the Badgers had more bite in the second half when he went with a smaller lineup, using Jack Janicki and Braeden Carrington at the four, but Winter called it "awesome" to have Rapp back in the lineup and to have Garlock eat up some more minutes to allow him to get more recovery time on the bench.

"Will especially showed some aggressiveness that we've seen from him and going forward, we're going to continue to need that," Winter said.

More Wisconsin Badgers News:

Published
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.

Share on XFollow TheBadgerNation
Home/Basketball