John Blackwell breaks a Wisconsin All-American's scoring record in the Badgers' Big Ten Tournament win

CHICAGO - News and notes from Wisconsin's 85-82 victory over Washington, improving the Badgers to 23-9 overall and putting them in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals for the 26th time in 28 Big Ten Tournament appearances.

Team notes

The Badgers reached 23 wins for the fourth time under head coach Greg Gard and the 15th time in program history.

Gard has been the coach for eight of 20 highest single-season win totals in school history.

With Washington slotted 60th in the NET rankings, Wisconsin tallied a Quad 2 victory, improving to 12-8 in Quad 1/2 games this season.

Greg Gard improved his overall record to 236-126 (.652) as head coach of the Badgers.

Quick #Badgers recap: John Blackwell and Nick Boyd again showed why they are in the conversation for the best backcourt in the country, scoring a combined 57 points in Wisconsin's 85-82 victory over Washington in the Big Ten Tournament third round.https://t.co/4sKzI4PuLf
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) March 12, 2026

The Badgers are 12-9 in the Big Ten Tournament under Greg Gard. Gard's 12 Big Ten Tournament wins ties Bruce Weber (Illinois) for seventh on the conference's all-time tournament wins list.

Wisconsin improved to 33-24 (.579) all-time in the Big Ten Tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals for the 27th time in 29 appearances in the event.

Wisconsin's 33 Big Ten Tournament wins .579 win pct. both rank 4th in the conference, trailing only Michigan State, Illinois and Ohio State.

The Badgers are 15-10 in games played at the United Center.

Wisconsin's 85 points against Washington are the school's 4th-highest mark in a Big Ten Tournament game UW made 15 three-pointers, which ranks third on the school's single-game BTT list.

Wisconsin improved to 20-0 when scoring 80 points on the season. The Badgers are 84-10 under Gard when hitting 80 points.

With 15 three-pointers on Thursday, Wisconsin broke the school record for three-pointers made in a season with 374, surpassing last year's mark of 366. Wisconsin shot 15-for-39 (38.5 percent) from three-point range.

Wisconsin is 20-3 this season when hitting at least 10 three-pointers in a game, leading the Big Ten with most games with double-digit threes and ranking fourth nationally.

Wisconsin improved to 8-0 on the season when John Blackwell and Nick Boyd each score 20 points in the same game.

The Badgers turned the ball over six times, improving to 20-2 on the season when committing 10 or fewer turnovers.

Individual Notes

Blackwell broke John Tonje's school record of 32 points in a Big Ten Tournament game by scoring 34 points and adding 10 rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He also set a new school BTT record for field goals (14) and attempts (34). His 34 points match Illinois' Terrance Shannon (2024 vs. Wisconsin) and Nebraska's James Palmer Jr. (2019 vs. Rutgers) for third-most in tournament history. Shannon holds the tournament record with 40 against Nebraska in 2024.

Blackwell has scored 113 points in the Big Ten Tournament, the fifth-highest total in program history. He is nine points away from breaking Ethan Happ's school record of 121.

Thursday was Blackwell's fourth career double-double, second of the season, and ninth for Wisconsin in a Big Ten Tournament game.

Blackwell has now scored 1,439 points, passing Devin Harris (1,425) and D'Mitrik Trice (1,430) for 16th place on the school's all-time scoring list.

Blackwell went 6-for-12 from deep, matching his career-high for triples in a game (something he has done four times).

Blackwell has now connected on 175 career 3FGs, moving into a tie with Trevon Hughes for 12th place on the Badgers all-time list.

Blackwell scored 30+ for the 4th time this season and 6th time in his career. Those six games are tied for fifth in school history with John Tonje (2025) and trail Michael Finley's nine.

Graduate student Nick Boyd finished with 23 points and matched UW's Big Ten Tournament record with nine assists.

Boyd is tied for third in the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 20.2 points per game.

Boyd has now scored 647 points, surpassing Devin Harris (624) for fourth place on the school's single season scoring list.

Boyd went 5-for-9 from 3-point range, matching his Badger high for triples in a game (something he has done three times this season).

With nine assists and two turnovers, Boyd owns 2.44 assist-to-turnover ratio on the season (132 assists to 54 turnovers).

- Notes provided by UW Brand Communications