John Blackwell honored for hitting massive milestone with Wisconsin Badgers

MADISON, Wis. -- Before Wisconsin tipped off the 132nd iteration of the I-94 Rivalry on Saturday, the Badgers honored junior guard John Blackwell in front of a sold out Kohl Center crowd.

Blackwell had become the 51st player in program history to score 1,000 points with the Badgers, an accolade that awarded him a standing ovation and a customized basketball to immortalize the achievement.

John Blackwell "blessed" after being honored for scoring 1,000 points with Badgers

Blackwell hit the 1,000-point milestone during Wisconsin's win over Northwestern earlier in the week, when he dropped 26 points.

Okay JB!

John Blackwell has hit 1000 career points after his THIRD triple of the night pic.twitter.com/cbzse2EPtg
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) December 4, 2025

He reflected on the achievement and his growth over the last few years following a 30-point outburst against Marquette.

"It's a blessing," Blackwell said. "It's an honor to be a part of this team and, you know, I'm blessed to be in this culture and play for Wisconsin; wear this "W" across my chest. I didn't want to shed a tear when Coach hugged me, and he gave me the ball for a thousand points, but it was a very emotional moment for me, but I knew I had a game to play."

Blackwell kicked emotions to the side once tipoff came, and he delivered his fifth career 30-point game, the sixth most in program history. Blackwell is also climbing the all-time charts in points, moving to 48th all-time after Saturday's win.

With John Blackwell's 30 points, he's moved into 48th in #Badgers history with 1,044 points. Sean Daugherty is 47th with 1,057 points.

At his current pace (21 ppg) Blackwell would finish the regular season with 1,506 points, which would rank 12th. https://t.co/Z7KbRvM6gg
— Cam Wilhorn (@CamWilhorn) December 6, 2025

It's been a long journey for Blackwell, who was heavily underrecruited coming out of high school. Wisconsin was the only high major school to pursue him.

Said Gard, "That's everybody else's fault, I guess."

Gard trusted his eyes and his gut when pursuing Blackwell and had plenty of praise for the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan native, not only as a basketball, but a player.

"The thing with John is his personality," Gard said after the Northwestern game. "he's a consummate teammate.

He's a worker. He's in the gym a lot. He's made himself into a really good player, and he's playing on a really good team. So, I'm just happy for him because he's put in a lot of time and he's overcome a lot of doubters."

Still, Blackwell's rise to excellence didn't always seem to be in the cards. As Gard recalled, Blackwell didn't come to Madison with the intent of being a star right away. Instead, Blackwell focused on finding ways to earn playing time.

When he got here as a freshman," Gard said Saturday, "he understood that if he took care of the ball, he played hard and played defense, he'd probably get on the floor as a freshman. And he did."

From there, Blackwell simply put in the work it took to consistently improve. On Saturday, he signaled back to a saying he lives by.

Seed. Time. Harvest.

It's a fitting mantra for Blackwell, who has gone from an unappreciated high school star to a bonafide star with legitimate NBA aspirations.

And according to Marquette head coach Shaka Smart, those aspirations could become reality.

"Blackwell is a special player. I've coached a couple guys the last few years that are now in the NBA, and he's that good."

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