"We're On To Next:" Wisconsin Aims For Bigger and Better Things After Back-to-Back Top-10 Wins

MADISON, Wis. — Fresh off maybe the biggest week of his head coaching career, Greg Gard was already thinking about Tuesday’s matchup at Ohio State. Even with the advice from former Wisconsin head coach Dick Bennett, Gard didn’t take much time to fully sit back and enjoy a pair of top-10 victories in the span of just four days.

“He (Bennett) goes, ‘If I have one regret, I lamented way longer, way harder, and way deeper on losses than I ever enjoyed wins.’ But it’s human nature. We’re on to next…In this profession, I don’t think you get to this point if your switch goes off. Maybe we turn down the volume a little bit, but the switch doesn’t go off.

“I’ll watch this tape tonight. We have tomorrow off, which is important for our players, but we’re already in Ohio State prep. Yeah, you enjoy the moment, but I think everyone that’s in this is extremely competitive and competitors don’t do a good job of flipping the switch off…until maybe May.”

Following the game, Gard described the week as a “pretty decent few days.”

It’s still mid-February, but with what transpired this week, it’s hard not to look ahead. Upsetting a 10th-ranked Michigan State (20-5, 10-4) squad, a team who on paper should have given them a laundry list of problems, Wisconsin (18-7, 10-4) led by as many as 24 and were up by double digits for the last 23:48, blowing the game open in the first half via a 15-0 run.

Oh, and this came on the heels of back-to-back overtime affairs, including Tuesday’s 92-90 upset at No. 8 Illinois.

“That was a good, old-fashioned ass-kicking, to be honest with you. ” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.

“We’ve played everybody good. From Duke to Michigan. We’ve played everybody good. Tonight, we got beat by a team that I think is a little better than us, but a team that I think played a lot better than us.”

Another reason Gard, and even his players, are eager to turn the page so quickly, the Badgers may have their most equipped team for March in his tenure. While Gard has found plenty of regular-season success, winning a pair of Big Ten Conference titles while finishing fifth or better in the league in eight of 10 seasons, the NCAA Tournament has been a different story. Since reaching a pair of Sweet 16’s in 2016 and 2017, Gard has yet to make it back to the second weekend.

There’s a laundry list of reasons that could change in March.

Elite guard play? Check. Nick Boyd (20.6 ppg) and John Blackwell (19.0 ppg) are the second-highest scoring duo in the country behind Texas Tech’s JT Toppin and Christian Anderson.

Able to erase large deficits and win on off nights? Check. Wisconsin has already come back to win in five games in which they trailed by 10 points or more this season, not including two other deficits that were erased, but UW faltered down the stretch.

Ability to score on just about anyone? Check and check. In their three wins over top 10 teams, Wisconsin is averaging 91.6 points per game. Friday’s shellacking of Michigan State, which came in with a top 20 defense nationally, was the sixth-most efficient offensive performance ever surrendered by the Spartans in the KenPom era. That included 51 first-half points, with second-leading scorer, Blackwell, only playing nine minutes due to foul trouble. UW has now scored 90 or more points in 11 games this season, a school record.

Then of course, there’s the pace. The Badgers rank No. 88 in KenPom’s adjusted tempo, easily their fastest in school history. UW has the ability to take a turnover and turn it into buckets in the blink of an eye. See Friday night, where the Spartans coughed the ball up just nine times, but it led to 21 points for UW. The Badgers are also third in the Big Ten in transition scoring — an area this program simply hasn’t excelled in historically.

Against MSU, UW averaged 1.49 points per possession, scored on 61 percent of their offensive trips, went 15-of-35 from 3-point range, and still managed to get 28 points in the paint as well as 19 second-chance points despite shooting 48 percent as a unit. The Badgers also became the first team since at least this century to make 15 or more 3-pointers in three wins over top-10 foes.

“When we shoot like that, ain’t nobody that can beat us,” said Boyd, who had 20 of his game-high 29 points in the first half…”It’s too much. I don’t even know. It’s too much.”

Of course, these weren’t always the vibes being felt in Madison. Entering the 2025-26 season with high expectations, Wisconsin fell flat in non-conference play and during the early part of the Big Ten schedule against its toughest tests. The Badgers suffered double-digit losses to BYU, Nebraska, Purdue, Villanova, and TCU, including falling by 30 to the Huskers and 28 to the Cougars.

“Quite frankly, early in the year, we were soft, mentally and physically,” said Gard. “We had to mature. We had to grow up, collectively and individually. You’re not going to be able to compete in the upper echelon of this league if you’re not physically and mentally tough.

“This group has responded…This group accepted the challenge. The coaching staff has done a good job of being extremely demanding of them, and they want that. They want to be held to a high standard.”

Things appeared to take their toll in Milwaukee when a teary-eyed Nolan Winter stepped to the podium and was at a loss for words following a 76-66 loss to the Wildcats at Fiserv Forum, a game in which Wisconsin needed everything they had just to get things to overtime before falling 76-66.

Nearly two months later, the Badgers find themselves playing as well as anybody in the country. Friday’s 21-point victory was the largest for UW over a top-10 opponent since 1989 (Illinois). It was also the most lopsided loss for Michigan State since 2022 (Iowa).

With six games remaining on the regular season slate, a Big Ten Tournament, and of course, the NCAA Tournament, still on the horizon, the last thing UW wants to do now is peak.

“I think back to the interview we had after Villanova. Nolan was heartbroken, and we were just lost as a team,” said Boyd. “We just came together. To have moments like this, it’s just beautiful. I’m so proud to be part of this team.

“We got way more moments to share together.”