Wisconsin
How John Blackwell’s game-winner happened, other takeaways from Wisconsin’s win
Braeden Carrington’s hot shooting against former school helps Badgers fend off Minnesota
Greg Gard discusses Wisconsin Badgers’ dramatic win over Minnesota
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard shares his opening remarks after the Badgers’ 78-75 win over Minnesota and John Blackwell’s game-winning 3-pointer.
MINNEAPOLIS – John Blackwell imagined the moment for a long time, going back to his childhood in the Detroit suburbs.
“I always think about it,” said Blackwell, who grew up as a fan of Jordan Poole and Michigan. “I was doing the runaway. I’m running away from my teammates, trying to see if they can catch me.”
All he was missing was hitting the game-winner. Well, that was until Jan. 13 when his Wisconsin Badgers were tied with Minnesota with 4.6 seconds remaining. That’s when he pulled up for a deep hesitation 3-pointer and hit it to clinch a thrilling 78-75 victory over the Gophers – and celebrate like how Poole famously did eight years earlier.
BOX SCORE: Wisconsin 78, Minnesota 75
“Go get the ball, keep your head up and go get a shot up,” Blackwell said, looking back at a lesson he learned at an early age. “So that’s what I did. And then I just went to my go-to move, hesi-three. And honestly, it looked good when it came off the hands.”
The game-winning buzzer-beater – the first for Wisconsin since Bronson Koenig’s shot in the second round of the 2016 NCAA tournament – capped off a roller-coaster win that included plenty of ups and downs for the Badgers. Here are three takeaways from the win:
Why Wisconsin (wisely) did not use a timeout before John Blackwell’s game-winner
Wisconsin walked away from Williams Arena with a win while leaving two timeouts on the table. Greg Gard said he did not plan on using one on the last play “as long as we have enough time and it felt like we were in motion,” and obviously Blackwell proved that 4.6 seconds was enough time.
“Obviously we always talk about trying to advance it and shoot it with your momentum toward the rim. So as long as I felt he had some space – which he did, he had the defense in retreat, had them backpedaling – [we could] put the ball in your really good player’s hands and let them make a decision.”
The resulting shot attempt from that, Gard said, is “going to be as good as any shot you’re going to get.”
“If I take a timeout with four seconds, five seconds to go, they’re going to set their defense,” Gard said. “Each situation is different. You just read and kind of get a feel for what the floor looks like when the ball does go in. And if you can catch them on a scattered floor, that’s typically the best way to attack in those situations.”
Gard indicated he was planning to use a timeout after Nolan Winter’s pair of free throws with about 12 seconds remaining. But Winter missed both free throws, keeping UW’s lead at three and voiding any opportunity to call a timeout.
“I thought we played in retreat too much,” Gard said.
Then Minnesota’s Cade Tyson hit the game-tying 3-pointer that Blackwell memorably turned into a moot point seconds later.
Braeden Carrington provided game-changing spark in homecoming
Wisconsin guard Braeden Carrington’s return to Williams Arena featured anything but a warm welcome.
The Minnesota fans in attendance at Williams Arena immediately booed the ex-Gopher guard when he first came off the bench at the 13:33 mark in the first half. The Minnesota crowd continued booing him throughout the game when he touched the ball.
“If you’re going to boo me, I got to talk back,” Carrington recalled telling friends who still are at Minnesota. “I can’t just let it happen.”
Carrington answered the Minnesota-cold reception with some hot shooting that led to a career-best performance and undoubtedly changed the dynamics of the game. His 21 points came on 7-of-12 3-point shooting, and he was only one 3-pointer short of tying the UW single-game record. He also had five rebounds.
Three of Carrington’s 3-pointers were part of a critical three-minute stretch that drastically changed the momentum of the game. Wisconsin went on a 14-0 run – with all 14 points coming from either Carrington or Blackwell – to turn a 57-52 deficit into a 66-57 lead.
“We shot some heat-check ones,” Blackwell said. “But I think when we get good looks like that, me and BC are confident shooters. … BC had it rolling. And it’s my job as the lead point guard out there when Nick [Boyd] was on the bench was to try to find him, and he stepped up and knocked the shots down.”
Wisconsin ‘had to keep fighting’ amid another double-digit deficit
Wisconsin’s win at Minnesota, Blackwell said, “never was going to be easy.”
“We just had to keep fighting,” Blackwell said.
That fight helped the Badgers come back to win after trailing double-digits for the second time in a four-day stretch. After overcoming a 14-point deficit against then-No. 1 Michigan on Jan. 10, UW found itself in an 11-point deficit early in the second half against Minnesota on Jan. 13.
The big deficit appeared to have a couple culprits. UW did not score at all in the last five minutes of the first half and had four turnovers in the last four minutes of the half.
Even more noticeably, Wisconsin’s defense was lacking as Minnesota capitalized on several easy looks from close range. The Gophers scored 22 of their 35 first-half points in the paint.
“We just took it on the chin and got better in the second half, and we shut off the things that they were getting so easy,” Blackwell said. “We stuck to the plan that coaches set for us and then trusted each other at the end.”
The Badgers’ second-half defense still was not perfect. In fact, Minnesota averaged more points per possession in the second half (1.290) than in the first (1.167) although more of those second-half points were either from the 3-point line or free-throw line.
“We haven’t been perfect by any stretch, but we have grown in our connectiveness and in our collective fight,” Gard said.
A Safe Haven Baby Box has been purchased for Wisconsin Rapids. The next step is choosing the best alarm system for the project before it can be installed.
WISCONSIN RAPIDS − The city is close to having a Safe Haven Baby Box installed to help protect babies who are unwanted or unable to be cared for by their parents.
Volunteers have raised $35,000 for the Safe Haven Baby Box project and spent about $17,000 to pay for the box. The remainder will help to cover the cost of an alarm system and installation of the box in Wisconsin Rapids’ Fire Station 2, 1641 W. Grand Ave.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes are secure, temperature-controlled, ventilated boxes that provide a place to anonymously put a newborn baby the mother can not or does not want to keep.
The project currently is waiting on the selection of an alarm system, said Linda Casper, who has led the efforts to get a Baby Box. Wisconsin Rapids Fire Chief Benjamin Goodreau is researching what system would be the best and most cost effective, Casper said. The alarm will alert the Wood County Communications Center when the box is opened. A delayed alarm then sounds after the baby is placed in the box and it is closed. The second alarm is delayed to allow the person dropping off the baby time to leave the area, Casper said.
Casper said she learned about the Baby Box when she was reading a newsletter from a state organization she and her husband belong to and found an article about the Safe Haven Baby Box. Casper thought it was a good idea for Wisconsin Rapids and contacted Wisconsin Rapids City Council member Jeff Penzkover about it. After discussions about a location that would work for the Baby Box, it was decided to place it at Wisconsin Rapids Fire Station 2.
Once the alarm system is chosen, Altmann Construction will begin the process of installing the box, Casper said. The installation will require removing bricks from the outside wall of the fire station. Before the box can be put into service, the firefighters and some members of the Wood County Sheriff’s Office will have to be trained on the correct protocols for handling a baby being left in the box, Casper said. Fire Department administration also will have to adjust the protocols to fit the department, she said.
Since the efforts to get a Baby Box in Wisconsin Rapids have become known, Casper has been getting phone calls from people in other communities, including Marshfield and Wausau, who want to know how she got the project going.
How you can help
Although the initial cost of the Baby Box is covered, Casper and the other people who have worked to bring the lifesaving device to Wisconsin Rapids still are working on raising more money. The box will need to be inspected each year by Safe Haven and the alarm system will have a monthly fee, Casper said. She hopes to raise enough to cover the costs for years to come.
People interested in helping can send donations to: Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, 1150 Second St. N., Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494. Please put “SHBB,” for Safe Haven Baby Box, on the memo line so church staff know where the money should go.
Contact Karen Madden at kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
Spring practice has wrapped up across the country, and college football has officially entered its quiet period of summer doldrums.
However, the mass influx of new intel on transfers gleaned from spring ball means top recruiting sites 247Sports and On3/Rivals have updated their national transfer portal rankings, and the Badgers’ class has gained more respect from both services since the initial transfer boom in the winter.
Wisconsin’s 2026 transfer haul currently checks in at No. 15 in the country on On3/Rivals, up slightly from its perch at No. 18 this winter. That’s good enough for third in the Big Ten behind UCLA (No. 11) and Indiana (No. 1).
247Sports sees the Badgers’ class a little differently; they’ve awarded Wisconsin with the No. 38-ranked class in the nation. That checks in at ninth in the Big Ten. Still, the outlet has bumped its individual ratings for several of the Badgers’ incoming transfers.
After initially not having signed a four-star transfer portal prospect in the eyes of 247Sports, the site has bumped quarterback Colton Joseph, running back Abu Sama and safety Marvin Burks Jr. to four-star transfer prospects, giving the Badgers three blue-chip portal players. Center Austin Kawecki was also bumped to a high three-star portal prospect.
On3, meanwhile, sees Wisconsin with just one four-star portal prospect in the Iowa State transfer tailback Sama.
It’s interesting to note that On3’s transfer portal grading system evaluates all of Wisconsin’s portal movement, additions and departures combined. 247Sports’ system is less additive and only evaluates teams based on how it ranks their newcomers.
Why it matters
In this day and age, programs have no choice but to deftly navigate the transfer portal if they want any shot at success. That doesn’t always mean you need to add over 30 signees, like Wisconsin did, but it’s a good sign that the Badgers are gaining recognition for one of the most important aspects of roster building.
Wisconsin is going to be a team largely fueled by mercenaries this season. I’d expect the vast majority of the Badgers’ production, especially on offense where new faces at quarterback, running back, tight end and receiver figure to dominate reps.
The Badgers still have a solid core of home-grown players, namely their two studs at inside linebacker and a handful of key cogs along the offensive line. After all, they rank 35th nationally in returning production; the cupboard isn’t entirely bare.
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