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John Blackwell's three-point winner was years in the making

John Blackwell scored a game-high 27 points, including the buzzer-beating three-pointer, to lead Wisconsin to a third straight Big Ten win.
Benjamin Worgull|
Jan 13, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard John Blackwell (25) shoots the game winning shot as Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Kai Shinholster (9) defends during the second half at Williams Arena.
Jan 13, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard John Blackwell (25) shoots the game winning shot as Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Kai Shinholster (9) defends during the second half at Williams Arena. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

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MADISON, Wis. - John Blackwell has been envisioning what it would be like to hit a game-winning three-point shot for years.

He was inspired by Jordan Poole as a Michigan fan growing up, thinking how cool it was that the former Wolverines guard hit a buzzer beater to stun Houston in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, and spent the next 10 seconds running around the court as his teammates tried to catch up with him.
He wanted to do that.

"I always think about it," he said.

Blackwell experienced that moment firsthand while competing in AAU and EYBL events, as players celebrating hitting their backbreaking three-point shot still resonate with him, even though the details of the exact situation are long since forgotten.

So, when Minnesota's Cade Tyson delivered a haymaker of a three-pointer with 4.6 seconds left to tie the score Tuesday night, Blackwell finally had the stage set for him.

"Always when a guy hits a shot to tie it up or to go up, the instant reaction sometimes for a player to do is to drop your head and just be like, dang. That's a heartbreaker when he hits that," Blackwell said. "When I started growing up, all I was taught was to go get the ball, keep your head up, and go get a shot up. So that's what I did."

It's evident that Blackwell has regained the swagger that he lost over a one-month stretch. He showed no fear in calling for the ball from Nolan Winter on the inbounds. He had no rush in dribbling the ball into the halfcourt and zero hesitation executing his go-to move - a hesitation three that hit nothing but net - to give Wisconsin a 78-75 victory.

"Honestly, it looked good when it came off the hands," Blackwell said.

The triumph over the Gophers had a familiar feel.

It marked 10 straight wins in the series and fifth straight victory at Williams Arena, matching two records over Minnesota that date back to 1916.

It reminded head coach Greg Gard of Purdue guard Jayden Ivey hitting a three-pointer in transition to tie the game in the closing seconds in 2022. Both that game and Tuesday played out the same way, bad, retreating defense on the last defensive possession that followed missed free throws that could have iced the game.

Game situations are often independent of each other, but Gard played them identically.

He didn't call a timeout four years ago, and Chucky Hepburn banked a three-pointer that gave the Badgers the win and a share of the Big Ten title.

More than four years later, with enough time on the clock and seeing things in motion, Gard chose not to use either of his two remaining timeouts to allow the Gophers the ability to sit the defense.

It was a smart move since Minnesota senior Langston Reynolds had fouled out of the game with 12 seconds left and was replaced by freshman Kai Shinholster, who hadn't played since being subbed for with 6:55 remaining in the first half.

As fate would have it, the chaos caused Minnesota not to pressure Wisconsin in the backcourt, and Shinholster gave Blackwell too much space to accurately challenge the attempt.

"We always talk about trying to advance it and shoot it with your momentum toward the rim," Gard said. "He had some space, he had the defense in retreat, had him backpedaling.

"Put the ball in your really good player's hand and let them make a decision. It's going to be as good as any shot you're going to get if I take a timeout with four seconds to go."

It was the final bow on a whirlwind 40 minutes. Wisconsin's interior defense leaked like a sieve in the first 20 minutes, with the Gophers getting 12 of their 14 baskets at the rim. The deficit grew to as high as 14 early in the second half before UW's 14-0 run - started by a Blackwell three with 10:21 remaining - flipped the script.

Blackwell scored five of his points on the run and 20 in the second half, sparked by Gard challenging him to be more aggressive and engaged at halftime.

"It's just your next play mentality," said Blackwell, whose game-high 27 points gave the Badgers their largest second-half comeback on the road since a 13-point rally at Minnesota in February 2002.
"As I told these guys, win one possession at a time. Don't worry about the next possession. Don't worry about the following possession you just lost. Win one possession at a time, and I think we did that."

Blackwell was off almost as soon as the ball hit the net with zeros on the clock. He ran in the direction of the Minnesota bench while popping the Wisconsin on the front of his jersey. But as soon as guards Nick Boyd and Jack Janicki caught him, he started his sprint and didn't stop until he got in front of the vocal Wisconsin contingent behind UW's bench.

"It felt good to celebrate with these guys," Blackwell said. "It's been a roller coaster type season. We're going to keep getting better and keep pushing forward. It's never going to be easy. We just have to keep fighting."

Notes

Since 1945, Wisconsin has won 22 games featuring buzzer-beating baskets (last-second or as time ran out). On 17 of those occasions, the buzzer-beater won the game outright, while five others sent games into overtime

Blackwell's three at the buzzer is Wisconsin's first game-winning buzzer-beater since Bronson Koenig's three-pointer to beat Xavier in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament (3/20/16).
The last buzzer-beater at regulation was a Chucky Hepburn driving layup to force overtime against Purdue in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament (3/16/24).

Wisconsin's last road buzzer-beater was a Traevon Jackson 35-foot 3FG to win at Penn State on 3/10/13.

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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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