What was different for Wisconsin in second half vs Minnesota
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard explained what was different for the Badgers in the second half of their comeback win over border-state rival Minnesota.
- Wisconsin overcame an 18-point halftime deficit to defeat Minnesota, 67-63. It was tied for the largest second-half comeback in the program’s history.
- Guards John Blackwell and Nick Boyd scored 37 of Wisconsin’s 50 second-half points.
- Improved shooting, defense and physicality were key to the Badgers’ second-half turnaround.
MADISON – Minnesota’s Niko Medved called it.
“We know [John] Blackwell and [Nick] Boyd – they’re going to really force the action here in the second half,” Medved recalled telling his team at halftime.
Blackwell and Boyd did exactly that as Wisconsin’s talented backcourt duo helped the Badgers overcome an 18-point halftime deficit en route to an improbable 67-63 win over Minnesota on Jan. 28 at the Kohl Center.
It was tied for the largest second-half comeback in program history, matching wins against Indiana in 2021, Ohio State in 1976 and Marquette in 1948.
The Badgers outscored Minnesota in the second half, 50-28, en route to the historic comeback. Blackwell and Boyd combined to score 37 of those 50 second-half points, including 15 of Wisconsin’s last 18 points of the game.
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“We couldn’t put our heads down,” Blackwell said, “or we were going to lose that game. … Coach just challenged our leaders to be better. I think we did that in the second half. I think guys stepped up like BC [Braeden Carrington] and Jack [Janicki], and then we strung a great second half together.”
John Blackwell comes up big again in final minute
The double-digit comeback win – Wisconsin’s third in the month of January and second this season against Minnesota – was anything but a sure thing in the final stretch of a game that had a total of eight lead changes and three ties.
With 90 seconds remaining, Minnesota had a one-point lead and possession. Then Janicki came up with a crucial steal, and Blackwell gave the Badgers everything they could ask for from their star player in the last minute.
He drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws with one minute remaining to take the lead, came up with the rebound after Janicki got his fingertips on a potential go-ahead 3-pointer and hit a 3-pointer on the other end to give the Badgers a two-possession lead with 19 seconds remaining.
It’s nothing new for Blackwell, who had 27 points and a game-winning buzzer-beater against Minnesota 15 days earlier. The standout guard finished with a team-high 23 points and seven rebounds, marking his seventh consecutive game with a double-digit point total.
Blackwell and Boyd, Medved said, are “relentlessly aggressive.”
“You got to be able to take them on, and you got to be able to take them on without fouling,” Medved said. “We weren’t able to do that.”
Wisconsin’s improved shooting stood out, but comeback was due to much more than that
Wisconsin’s improved shooting was an obvious factor in the Badgers’ big comeback. After all, Wisconsin hit 70% of its shots in the second half after hitting only 17.9% of its shots in the first half.
But for as much as those numbers stand out, Wisconsin’s ability to do everything else – from defense to drawing contact – was a difference-maker as well in the comeback.
Wisconsin made more free throws in the second half (13) than it even attempted in the first half (four). Blackwell alone drew four fouls in the second half, and Boyd drew another four after halftime. That helped put the Badgers in the bonus for most of the second half.
“We initiated things better,” Gard said. “We were on attack mode better. We got to the free-throw line. … We were just tougher in all aspects of the game.”
Perhaps even more importantly, the Badgers showed improvement on the defensive end in the second half.
Yes, Minnesota technically shot a higher percentage in the second half (50%) than in the first (43%). But the Gophers turned the ball over on 29.6% of possessions in the second half rather than 9.7% in the first half and averaged fewer points per possession after intermission.
“Defensively, I thought we had more bite to us than what we did in the first half,” Gard said.
Wisconsin also made some defensive plays at critical moments that had an impact bigger than a glance at the box score might suggest. Janicki’s steal while UW trailed by one point is near the top of that list, as is the redshirt sophomore’s block with 45 seconds remaining.
“It was good for us to respond specifically from the defensive end,” Gard said. “Shots are going to come and go. They’ll fall eventually. But that other end is what got us back on track.”
That improved physicality was against a short-handed Minnesota team that was without leading scorer Cade Tyson, among others. The Gophers used only seven players, and three of their starters were on the floor for at least 38 minutes.
“Could you say that that’s a factor? Yeah,” Medved said. “But that’s not – everyone’s tired. I think we lose our focus sometimes in the second half. … If we’re going to say we’re tired, we’re just making excuses.”
Wisconsin’s rough first half starts with lack of shooting success, but also lack of physicality
Wisconsin’s rough first half was a continuation of the shooting woes that saddled the Badgers in the 73-71 loss to USC three days earlier.
After shooting 34.3% from the field and 24.3% from 3-point range against the Trojans, Wisconsin made only 17.9% of shots from the field and 25% from 3-point range in the first half against Minnesota.
It’s been quite the harbinger of the Badgers’ 2025-26 success, as they went into the Jan. 28 rivalry game with a 12-0 record when shooting at least 45% from the field versus a 2-6 record when falling short of that mark.
Of all the issues that Wisconsin experienced in the first half, though, the quality of shot attempts might be the last thing that comes to mind for Gard.
“It was how hard we were playing, how physical we were,” Gard said. “And then when you don’t play hard and you don’t play physical, you end up getting crappy looks. It’s amazing how that works when the ball doesn’t go in. You play hard, you play physical – man, it makes the ball go in. It’s magic.”
