Nick Boyd leads Wisconsin Badgers' small ball disruptors

MADISON, Wis. - There is one moment that perfectly captures who point guard Nick Boyd is and what he's meant to the University of Wisconsin, and it has little to do with the ball going through the basket.

Boyd just hit a three-pointer that capped a run of Wisconsin scoring 11 points in six possessions, nearly erasing an 11-point road deficit to Minnesota. He celebrated, flashing three fingers in front of the Wisconsin on his chest, but then raised both arms above his head and singled, first with his middle and ring fingers and then both hands, for the UW fans to bring more noise.

Call it bold to do it on the road, or even a little reckless in front of a crowd that was comprised mostly of fans cheering against him, but that's Boyd, a ring master without P.T. Barnum's wardrobe.

"He's our emotional, heart-on-the-sleeve leader," head coach Greg Gard said. "It's who he is. He's very passionate. He likes to play to the crowd. He's an entertainer."

Nick Boyd is proof that you don’t need to play for a shoe company team to show out on the biggest stage

Boyd played in the @TheHoopGroup circuit for the majority of his High School
Career and getting it done in the Big Ten

pic.twitter.com/pzG5R1jsVF
— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) January 12, 2026

Wisconsin has made it a point not to dampen that passion since Boyd transferred to the program for his final season, but Gard has made it a point to refine, develop, and elevate a point guard who was playing in the Final Four three years ago.

It might be a long shot for Boyd to find his way onto the All-Big Ten first team when the awards are announced next month, but it's hard to fathom another player having as big an impact on a program and teammates as the graduate senior.

The scoring punch is obvious, as Boyd ranks third in the conference in scoring (20.0 ppg) and field goals per game (6.7), but a byproduct of his play is his impact in helping open up the offense with transition play (12.3 fast-break points per game - nearly doubled from last season) and scoring (83.2 ppg - third-best in school history).

The development and growth in Boyd from the beginning of the season to early February are evident. His pacing has improved, and he’s played off two feet more at the rim when he stops his drives.

From Wisconsin's loss to TCU on November 28th to its win over Central Michigan on December 22, Boyd shot less than 50 percent in six consecutive games and averaged five free throws per game.

Since the holiday break, Boyd is hovering near the mark (48.4) but is averaging 8.7 free-throw attempts per game. UW is averaging 22.1 free-throw attempts per game, its highest rate in over 50 years, and converting 17.2 per game—the best mark since 1971-72.

Boyd has also decreased the number of unforced errors. Committing multiple turnovers in seven of Wisconsin's first 13 games, Boyd has done it only three times in the past nine Big Ten games against conference opponents, including his 22-point, six-assist, zero-turnover performance against Michigan and the nation's most efficient defense.

"We still have a few that, every once in a while, are wildly thrown at the rim, but by and large I think he's done a really good job of attracting a defense with his dribble penetration, finding people, and making plays," Gard said. "(He's) gotten better at not over dribbling and speed is a part of that. You can't be running full throttle all the time. There has to be a give and take with that. He's gotten better at understanding how to manage a game."

Nick Boyd isn't upset at the Kohl Center crowd for booing during the first half of the #Badgers eventual win against Minnesota.

The sixth-year guard is embracing every game with the Wisconsin crowd.

And as @krabbenhoftjoe says: "This is his stage, and he's an entertainer." pic.twitter.com/TzZYYLtXIN
— Karl Winter (@KarlWinterTV) January 31, 2026

The results of a point guard with big-game experience who leads by his play and his example are invaluable to a team of newcomers, specifically UW's reserve guards Jack Janicki and Braeden Carrington.

Janicki has been one of Wisconsin's best on-ball defenders who can defend multiple positions on the floor. His Defensive Bayesian Performance Rating, a EvanMiya metric that measures the defensive value a player brings when he's on the floor by combining box-score stats and on-court team performance, is fourth best on the roster.

Carrington was one of the Badgers' best reserves in January, averaging 9.4 points over nine games with a career-high 21 points in that comeback over the Gophers. According to CBB analytics, Wisconsin's lineup with Boyd and Carrington on the floor, joined by guard John Blackwell and forwards Aleksas Bieliauskas and Nolan Winter, is the sixth-best lineup amongst power-five teams in conference play based on overall NET efficiency at +42.9 (minimum 50 possessions).

"Our small ball lineup has been good for us defensively," Gard said. "We've been able to keep the ball in front of us. We've rebounded pretty well out of it. We've been able to play a little faster offensively with that lineup. It's a good change of pace."

Wisconsin will likely go small often against Indiana on Saturday, as the Hoosiers (15-8, 6-6) employ a starting lineup with no starter listed over 6-9, no rotational player over 6-10, averaged 10.6 made 3-pointers per game (27th nationally), and have assisted on 65.2 percent of their made field goals (seventh nationally).

It's the start of five straight Quad-1 games for Wisconsin, a level of basketball that promises to feed in Boyd's hype machine.

"This is his stage, and he's an entertainer," said Badgers associate head coach Joe Krabbenhoft. "I hope everybody is enjoying the games we have with him. I wish we had years with him because he's so much fun to watch.

"When we step out on this floor, man, he competes, and he's all about winning. When your heart is there, when your focus is on those things, everything else is coachable."

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