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Biggest takeaways from Wisconsin's 67-63 victory over Minnesota

Wisconsin Badgers erase a 20-point deficit to earn their 11th straight victory over Minnesota.
Benjamin Worgull|
Wisconsin guard Braeden Carrington (0) reacts after hitting a three-point basket and drawing a foul during the second half of their game Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin beat Minnesota 67-63.
Wisconsin guard Braeden Carrington (0) reacts after hitting a three-point basket and drawing a foul during the second half of their game Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin beat Minnesota 67-63. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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MADISON, Wis. - A technical foul after a forearm shove to a freshman, ripping at the ball in the low post to force a change of possession, throwing a little shoulder into a player after a teammate drew a charge in the paint.

Each play doesn't stand out or even appear in a box score, but the trio showed the University of Wisconsin has a little more fight within itself than it did in prior months, even with the Badgers having every reason to be disheartened after a comatose first half.

"We couldn't put our heads down," junior John Blackwell said, "or we were going to lose that game."

Three days after being unable to fight their way out of a shooting slump, Wisconsin found its next gear to storm back from 20 points down to stun the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 67-63, at the Kohl Center on Wednesday night.

It marked the 11th straight win for Wisconsin (15-6, 7-3 Big Ten) over the Gophers, a program record that broke a tie that was set 110 years ago. UW honored that team by playing an old-timey low-scoring offense in the first 20 minutes before evolving into the 21st century.

Here are my takeaways from the Kohl Center.

Blackwell, Boyd helped UW produce a great second half

Down 20 at home to a border rival that only had a handful of healthy players wasn't exactly the night Blackwell pictured.

Coming off what he admitted was one of his worst first halves, Blackwell still had his head up and was confident that everything would be all right if the Badgers stuck to their plan.

It didn't matter that head coach Greg Gard challenged the team's leaders to be better than what they were showing, but it certainly couldn't hurt after an ugly 20 minutes of basketball.

Across the board in the second half, the Badgers regained their aggressiveness and physicality with their offense. It's not a surprise that they came from their starting guards.

Blackwell and Nick Boyd were a combined 2-for-15 in the first half. They were reliant on a three-point shot that wasn't falling (0-for-7) and weren't calculated with their dribble actions, evidenced by just two free throw attempts between the two of them.

Both guards too often drove to the rim without purpose or control, victims of either tentativeness, rushing, or overdribbling. UW had one made two-point shot in the first half, coming from Boyd with one second remaining before halftime to cut the deficit to 18.

Both had assertiveness during UW's comeback run. Boyd hunted his shot more aggressively, going 6-for-8 from three and attacking the paint in control, looking to score or facilitate. His ability to draw defenders allowed him to hit Nolan Winter cutting to the rim for a bucket that cut the lead to single digits.

After Austin Rapp poked the ball away on the defensive end, Boyd led the one-man break and finished at the rim with a left-handed scoop layup to cut the deficit to three.

He also played with some fire, like giving freshman Kai Shinholster a shove with his forearm and a piece of his mind after the guard fouled Boyd on a drive to the rim. Both players received technicals.

"He's a tough sucker," Gard said of Boyd. "He's mentally tough, physically tough, a tough competitor. I can get after him, and he responds."

Blackwell didn't attempt a two-point shot in the second half because he routinely put himself in a position where Minnesota had to foul on drives to the basket. Blackwell went 9-for-12 from the free-throw line alone in the second half, tying as many attempts as he's had in a game all season.

Considering the Gophers played with only six players due to injuries, the foul trouble played a factor down the stretch.

UW and Minnesota had seven lead changes down the stretch, but Blackwell's aggressiveness prevented any more with him scoring seven points in the final minute.

"We just have fight, and I think we're more together," said Blackwell, who also forced a jump ball by tying up Jaylen Crocker-Johnson in the low post midway through the second half, causing him and Rapp to pump up the crowd.

"Games like that earlier in the season, we got down, and we just dropped our heads. This game, we kept fighting and chipping away. Communication on the court in the second half ... we're going to make a mistake, and Jack (Janicki) got my back, (Braeden Carrington) got my back, and Nick's got my back. We didn't have that earlier in the year."

Janicki does the dirty work

Sophomore guard Jack Janicki's stat line comes across as pedestrian. In 23 minutes, the Minnesota native missed his one field goal attempt, never made it to the free-throw line, and had one rebound.

It's the numbers further down the list that really made a difference.

Starting the second half after Aleksas Bieliauskas' ankle injury knocked the forward out of the game in the first half, Janicki's increased minutes and presence on the floor down the stretch were a key catalyst.

He positioned himself properly absorbed contact on Langston Reynolds in the low post, drawing a rare offensive foul in today's game. His defense on Reynolds was partly the reason the Minnesota guard was 4-for-12 from the floor.

Twice with UW leading by one in the final 90 seconds, Janicki's defense was critical. He stole a bad pass from guard Isaac Asuma that started a possession that ended with two Blackwell free throws.

The next time down the floor, Janicki's closeout on an Asuma three led to a partial block and another empty possession. Minnesota scored only once in the final two minutes, with two misses directly attributed to Janicki.

"You look at the stat line, and you wouldn’t think much of my performance, but obviously I'm out there for a reason," Janicki said. "There's going to be nights when the shots are dropping, and I'm open. I'm fortunate enough to feed off these guys' great playmaking, but at the same time, I know my role on this team. The main thing is the main thing, and it's winning."

Janicki has filled the role of forward Carter Gilmore in becoming Wisconsin's defensive catalyst in practices and games. Like the former walk-on, Janicki's versatility allows the coaching staff to move him into different roles because of his ability to switch and cover up defensive mistakes.

It's why the Badgers used him as a stretch four when it went small, and why he and Braeden Carrington made the offense click better in the second half.

Of the six different lineup combinations Wisconsin used with Janicki on the floor, three had a positive scoring differential and above 1.1 points per possession.

"Overall, we get sort of an underdog mentality playing small ball," Janicki said. "I'm usually guarding a five or a four, and that naturally just leads (Blackwell), (Carrington), and Nick (Boyd) to want to help me more and me help them. We came together in the second half on both sides, but it's all about that edge. When we play small, we have a lot of that edge."

First half can't happen

Center Nolan Winter got a friendly bounce off the front iron and the backboard to open the scoring with a three-pointer on the first possession. There was nothing friendly after that.

Winter's fortuitous three was one of two scores in the first 15 possessions for Wisconsin, littered with three turnovers and only three shots around the rim. The next 15 possessions weren't much prettier, as the Badgers were 0-for-6 on twos during that stretch as the clanks off the rim mounted.

The disconnect was obvious. On an inbounds underneath the basket, Boyd and Winter were not on the same page on the guard's entry pass, causing an inbounding lob to be easily intercepted by Reynolds. Worse yet, Winter never turned around to find the ball, and Reynolds dribbled right around him for an easy lay-in to make it 25-9.

The Gophers had a run of 20-3 that eventually grew to 27-6.

It was so poor that Minnesota's Bobby Durkin equaled the Badgers' point total on 21 fewer shot attempts, as the Badgers averaged .515 points per possession in the first half.

Gard said afterward that he tried every lineup combination possible to create a jolt and better cohesiveness.

"Nobody really had a good first half, including me," Gard said.

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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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