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Nick Boyd Is Already Surpassing John Tonje as Wisconsin Badgers Breakout Transfer Guard

Somehow, the Wisconsin Badgers have a breakout star guard from the transfer portal for the second straight season, with Nick Boyd already surpassing John Tonje.
Lorin Cox|
Wisconsin Badgers guard Nick Boyd (2) has been this year's breakout star from the transfer portal, like John Tonje the year before.
Wisconsin Badgers guard Nick Boyd (2) has been this year's breakout star from the transfer portal, like John Tonje the year before. | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers caught lightning in a bottle last year with the breakout season of John Tonje coming out of the transfer portal.

Somehow, Greg Gard has done it again in back-to-back years, as Nick Boyd is already surpassing the impact Tonje had a year ago.

This season, Boyd has already had 16 games where he has scored 20 or more points, which is more than the 15 that Tonje put up in 2024-25.

The only players to have more for Wisconsin in the past 25 years were Frank Kaminsky and Alando Tucker, both first-round picks in the NBA Draft.

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Boyd still has six more games to play to maintain his current pace, but he's averaging better scoring numbers than Tonje did in his one year with Wisconsin.

Boyd is putting up 20.6 points per game on 47.9 percent shooting. Last year, Tonje scored 19.6 per game at a 46.5 shooting percentage.

As more of a true point guard, Boyd has more assists per game, but Tonje's size advantage made him the more productive rebounder.

Related: Nick Boyd, John Blackwell have turned Wisconsin Badgers into March Madness darkhorse

Last year's emergence was a little more out of nowhere, with Tonje transferring in after an injury-plagued season at Missouri that saw him play only eight games.

The year before, he played well at Colorado State, but he was nowhere near the star that he became for the Badgers.

Boyd had been a reliable player last year at San Diego State, but he too has taken a significant jump playing for Greg Gard this season.

He has been a huge key for Wisconsin pulling off multiple victories over Top 10 teams and looking like one of the most dangerous teams in the country.

Part of Tonje's stardom was built on a deep Big Ten Tournament run. The Badgers are hoping Boyd can produce similar results this spring, with perhaps a deeper run in March Madness.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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