Wisconsin Badgers guard John Blackwell named to a prestigious mid-season watch list

MADISON, Wis. - One of only three returning rotation players on the University of Wisconsin's roster, the Badgers coaching staff challenged junior guard John Blackwell to become more of an alpha leader and bring the new group up to his level.

Heading into the toughest stretch of the season, Blackwell has got the Badgers humming at the right time.

Averaging 20.3 points in the month of January, helping the Badgers move into fifth place in the top-heavy Big Ten conference, Blackwell was named in the midseason watch list for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award, considered one of the premier awards in college basketball for the position.

Top-🔟 in the country

Congrats JB on being named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Midseason Watch List pic.twitter.com/x3fN1qdPT1
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) February 3, 2026

Named after former Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard, the award has been given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate shooting guard since 2015.

Past winners include Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell, Oklahoma's Buddy Hield, and Wisconsin's Johnny Davis, who averaged 19.7 points and 8.2 rebounds during his 2021-22 Big Ten Player of the Year season.

Entering Saturday's game at Indiana, Blackwell is second on the team in scoring (18.6 ppg) with 5.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. The junior is shooting 40.8 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from the three-point line. He is also shooting 54-for-60 (90 percent) at the line in Big Ten play.

In Wisconsin's recent 92-82 victory over Ohio State, Blackwell finished with a game-high 22 points, adding four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. It was the eighth straight game Blackwell has reached double figures, the longest such streak of his career, the 17th time this season, and the 61st time in his career.

Averaging 15.8 points as Wisconsin's starting point guard last season, part of Blackwell's growth comes from changing his diet and getting feedback from league executives after participating in last spring NBA Draft process.

"His approach has been consistent," head coach Greg Gard said of Blackwell. "He works on his game ... It's experience. It's physically being better. I think understanding the whole process he went though, it's a normal transformation that you figure out what's important what you put in your body based on what you want to get out of it."

But the big boost for Blackwell was Wisconsin adding senior transfer Nick Boyd, who is second on the team in scoring at 20.0 ppg. The Badgers are 6-0 this season when each player scores 20 points

"Anytime you have new players on the roster, there's going to be an adjustment period and roles change," Gard said. "People slide up in the rotation. I think they've both have had to adjust, and they've both have done a good job of understanding how important the other is, keeping their aggressiveness, and functioning together."

Winners of seven of its last eight games, Wisconsin will begin February playing six consecutive Quad-1 games, starting with a road game at Indiana on Saturday.

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