Overtime: Down 20, Wisconsin Finds a Way Back to Stun Minnesota

MADISON, Wis. — For a while, it appeared Wisconsin was going back on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Trailing by 20 points, including 18 at the break, the Badgers (15-6, 7-3) matched their largest second-half comeback in program history, rallying for a 67-63 win over rival Minnesota (10-11, 3-7) on Wednesday.

“Aggressiveness, physicality, we had a pulse,” UW head coach Greg Gard said of how his team was able to claw their way back. “We initiated things better. We were in attack mode better. I thought we were just tougher in all aspects of the game.”

Minnesota Owned the First Half

Wisconsin scored the first points of the game on a 3-pointer from Nolan Winter. After that, the Badgers almost couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half.

UW scored a season-low 17 points in the first half and needed a buzzer beater from Nick Boyd to get that. The Badgers had more turnovers (8) than field goals (5) in the first 20 minutes and averaged .53 points per possession

Give credit to Minnesota, though. The Gophers played outstanding defense and seemed to know where the ball was going, often beating UW to spots. Even without their best player, UM came out swinging, using a 20-3 run to lead by as many as 20 in the first half.

“It seemed like we couldn’t do anything right in the first half,” said Gard.

Boyd, Blackwell Woke Up in the Second

It was a disappointing start to the game for Wisconsin’s star players, Nick Boyd and John Blackwell. The two guards missed their first eight shots combined and went into the half with a total of seven points on 2-of-15 shooting with three turnovers.

Second half? Different story.

Boyd scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half, including a couple of big 3-pointers that woke the Kohl Center up, one of which gave Wisconsin the lead for the first time since it was 4-3 in the opening minutes.

Blackwell had the dagger with 19 seconds remaining to put the Badgers in front 65-61. The junior guard also nailed the door shut with a pair of free throws on the next possession. Blackwell posted 18 second-half points on 3-of-5 shooting, getting to the foul line 12 times.

Minnesota head coach Niko Medved said he warned his team at halftime how hard Boyd and Blackwell were going to “force the issue.” The duo combined for 37 points in the second half, which outscored Minnesota (28).

“They’re just relentlessly aggressive,” said Medved. “The last thing I told our guys coming out of the locker room was, ‘We know Blackwell and Boyd, they’re going to really force the action here in the second half. When they did, we just weren’t able to handle it.”

Wisconsin Leaned On its Defense

As exciting as it was to see Wisconsin erase a 20-point deficit against its rival, shooting 70 percent (14-of-20), and get some timely buckets, it doesn’t happen without the defense. Not that Minnesota is a powerful offense, but the Badgers have had very few times this season where they’ve been able to lean on their defense and win a dog fight.

Entering Wednesday, UW was 0-5 if they didn’t score at least 79 points. The Badgers haven’t won a dog fight all season, but really dug in during that final 20 minutes and got things started right from the jump.

Minnesota only got off two field goal attempts in the opening 5:42 of the second half, committing a turnover on four of their first five possessions. The Gophers turned the ball over eight times, including a few shot clock violations, in the final period, which made a huge difference considering UM shot 50.0 percent (10-20) during that span.

“More than anything, it was the other end. We were able to get some stops, get some energy going, create some energy that way,” said Gard. “That second half, the defense created some offense. We get some shots to go in and it starts to spin in the other direction.”

Game Ball

Although Blackwell was the leading scorer, Wisconsin rode Boyd in the second half. As he often does, the senior guard got the Kohl Center fans off their feet and got them to start making some noise. At one point, Boyd scored 13 of UW’s 17 points to give the Badgers a 56-53 lead with 5:03 remaining. Boyd also had three of his four assists in the second half.

“Just thinking about my journey, to be in the Big Ten, and play in these types of games — I just can’t take it for granted,” he said. “I was going down the rabbit hole the other day and just talking about how many more games I have left in this building. It’s dwindling. I’m trying not to take it for granted.

“When we have a first half like we did, it just goes back to not taking it for granted, and playing as hard as we can and having fun with it.”

Big Picture

Wisconsin has now won 11 in a row over its rival. The Badgers improved to 5-1 following a loss this season. However, it’s still very concerning that UW had another game like this, and they should not fully be left off the hook.

Not going to take anything away from Minnesota, because they came out and fought and made life very difficult on the Badgers, but there’s no excuse to get down by 20 at home to that team. Wednesday marked the seventh time that UW has trailed by 14 or more points this season, including the fourth game in which they’ve been in a 20-point hole or bigger.

And, it’s a good thing for UW that UM is one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country, going 6-of-11 from the charity stripe, coming up empty on a pair of trip when things tightened up in the second half. Against a better team or anybody in March, you’re not digging yourself out of that type of deficit.

“We’ve got toughness to us that we didn’t have in November. We’ve got some fight to us,” Gard said. “Quite frankly, with how we shot the ball Sunday, we probably should have lost by 30. They’ve gotten more resilient. They’re not there all the time yet, but we have more toughness to us than we had in November, early December.”

Beyond the Box Score

1: Boyd didn’t score until one second remaining of the first half.

2: Wisconsin began the game 2-of-15 shooting.

5: UW missed its first five layup attempts.

5:42: Minnesota only got off two shots in the first 5:42 of the second half, turning the ball over four times on their first five possessions.

8: Durkin scored the first eight points and 11 of 14 overall for Minnesota.

8: Boyd and Blackwell combined to miss their first eight field goal attempts.

9: The Badgers went 9:03 between 3-pointers.

9:40: The Gophers were held to four points in the first 9:40 of the second half.

10: UW reached the bonus with 10:12 remaining in the second half.

11: Minnesota scored 11 unanswered points to take an 11-3 lead in the first half. The Badgers missed eight consecutive shots during that run.

11: Winter had a +/- of 11 to pace UW.

11: The Badgers made 11 of 12 shots at one point in the second half.

14: Boyd and Blackwell drew 14 of UM’s 18 fouls.

20: The Gophers opened up a 20-6 lead via a 20-3 run in the first half.

70: UW shot 70 percent (14-20) in the second half.

2024: UW’s 67 points were its fewest in a win since Ohio State in 2024.