Wisconsin

Preview: No.5 Wisconsin Looks to Knock Off Top-Seeded Michigan State

Published

1 year ago

March 15, 2025

Press Room

Preview: No.5 Wisconsin Looks to Knock Off Top-Seeded Michigan State

No.5 Wisconsin (25-8, 13-7 Big Ten) vs. No.1 Michigan State (27-5, 17-3 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Saturday, March 15, 1 p.m.

Arena – Gainbridge Fieldhouse (18,345)

Television – CBS (Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius 85 or 382, stream online on iHeartRadio.

Series – Michigan State leads 87-69 (Michigan State leads 8-4 in neutral sites)

Last Meeting – Michigan State won, 71-62, on March 2, 2025, in East Lansing, Mich.

Follow Online: The Badgers’ Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Point Spread – Michigan State -2.5

Player to Watch: In Wisconsin’s 82-70 quarterfinal win over UCLA, Tonje finished with 26 points, going 9-for-10 from the field (6-6 3FGs). He matched his season-high with 9 rebounds and added 4 assists. With 631 points scored this season, Tonje is in third place on Wisconsin’s single-season scoring list.

Player to watch: Richardson scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the second half and added three rebounds and two assists to lead the Spartans to a 74-64 quarterfinal victory over Oregon.

The two teams have split the last 10 meetings.

Saturday’s semifinal will mark the 53rd meeting between Wisconsin and Michigan State since 2000, marking the Badgers’ most-played opponent in that span (Illinois is next at 49 meetings).

UW and MSU are meeting for the 12th time in the postseason, including the 2000 Final Four and 11 meetings in the Big Ten Tourney.

The Badgers and Spartans are meeting in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament for the 8th time. UW is 2-5 in such games.

At least one of the two teams has been ranked in the last 44 meetings. The last game in which both were unranked was a 64-53 Wisconsin win on Feb. 11, 2003.

The Badgers have recorded six wins over a top-10 ranked Michigan State team since Bo Ryan and Greg Gard arrived in Madison, going 6-11 in such games. Before the 2001-02 season, Wisconsin was 1-13 against ranked Michigan State teams in the AP top 10.

The Badgers are participating in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals for the 14th time in the 28 tourneys and the fourth time under Gard. UW’s 14 semifinals appearances trails only Michigan State (17) for most trips to the semis. Illinois has also played in 14 semifinals.

The Badgers are 3-6 all-time against the No. 1 seed in the BTT, knocking off Illinois in 2004, Indiana in 2013, and Purdue in 2024.

Wisconsin is 27-for-57 (.474) from 3-point range through two Big Ten Tournament games. The Badgers are averaging 13.5 triples per game in the event. Wisconsin is shooting 49.5 percent (55-for-111) from the field through two games.

The Badgers held UCLA to just 22-of-68 (32.4 percent) from the field on Friday. Through two tournament games, UW has held its opponent to 34.4 percent shooting (42-for-122) from the field.

Wisconsin has 34 assists to 21 turnovers during the BTT, good for a 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio.

The Spartans are 36-20 (.643) all-time in the Big Ten Tournament and lead the conference with six tournament titles.

Michigan State connected on 46.3 percent of its field goals (25-of-54), including 51.6 percent in the first half (16-of-31).

After Oregon shot 56.5 percent in the first half, the Spartans limited the Ducks to 40.0 percent shooting from the field (12-of-30), including 10.0 percent from 3-point land (1-of-10).

MSU held a 36-29 advantage on the boards, collected seven offensive rebounds in the first half and out-scoring Oregon, 13-0, in second chance points.

The Spartans received 27 points from the bench, the 30th time in 32 games with at least 20 points.

Blackwell and Kamari McGee controlled the offense in Thursday’s 70-63 win over Northwestern, playing under control and limiting their combined turnovers to three. The only thing that wasn’t up to task was their shooting, with Blackwell going 3-for-10 and McGee slightly better at 3-for-7.

It was a different story against the Bruins.

Blackwell was a part of Wisconsin’s hot start with two three-point makes, as well as being opportunistic in crashing the glass for an offensive rebound on a short three-point shot for as an easy lay-in. McGee shot at least 80 percent for the first time since February 15 and made multiple three-pointers in a game without a miss for the first time all season.

“We’re the point guards, the head of the snake,” McGee said. “It starts with us. We can’t just go out there and tell our guys one thing and not do it. We’ve got to lead by example. I feel like we picked that up.”

Both players agreed that some of Wisconsin’s losses this season were the result of them not leading by example. The March 2 loss at Michigan State was one of them, as McGee went 1-for-8 from the floor with three fouls and two turnovers, and Blackwell missed a team-high 12 shots. The two were a combined 0-for-11 from three.

“The couple games that we lost, it’s on us,” Blackwell said. “We’ve got to keep going, keep our energy high, even when we’re not playing it that good, not shooting it that good. I think as point guards, that’s our job.”

In tying the Big Ten Tournament record with 19 three-pointers, the Badgers started 12-for-17 from beyond the perimeter. The first three threes were shot in rhythm and came from exceptional ball movement. That was the case for 10 of Wisconsin’s three-pointers in the first half, including a work of art with 6:47 remaining in the first half.

With Crowl possessing the ball outside the paint and drawing the double, he fed the ball to Tonje on the wing. From there, snap passes from Tonje to Carter Gilmore to Blackwell to Klesmit in the corner for a three made it 33-20.

Wisconsin dished out 22 assists on the day, the team’s second-highest total of the season after collecting 26 against Iowa on 1/06/25, with Blackwell and McGee assisting on four each.

“We have a lot of talented guys, and we kind of feed off each other,” Tonje said. “When we’re able to be unselfish and kind of look for each other, the ball just kind of finds its way back to you. I think everyone’s kind of bought in now, and we’re not pushing our own agendas. We’re just trying to compete and doing everything we can to get the win.”

Nobody was better from behind the three-point line than Tonje. He hit all six of his three-point attempts in the first half, including two where he simply pulled up and fired. He attacked more in the second half, knifing through four defenders into the lane to finish off the layup.

It took him until 5:26 remained to miss a shot, with Wisconsin comfortably ahead by 27 points.

“I think I was just trying to be aggressive within the flow of the game, trying to figure out how they’re guarding me, and how I can adjust and just really be effective,” Tonje said. “With all these guys around me that balance the floor and make it easier to open up and make it the right decision, I think it’s just having talented guys around me that help me make plays.”

That aggressiveness was lost in the meeting against the Spartans less than two weeks ago. One of the more physical teams in the league with how they play and how deep into the bench they go, the Spartans challenged the Badgers at the rim and forced them to shoot from the outside, where they rank third in the country in percentage defense (28.0 percent).

UW went 5-for-32 from three against the Spartans, 11-for-22 at the rim, and 6-for-15 on other shots, the latter category showing the Badgers settled for jumpers instead of challenging defenders.

“I feel like we didn’t go in the paint enough at their place,” McGee said. “I feel like we can really eat inside and find guys and spread. That’s where we can get our threes from inside out. If we just attack the paint more than we did in the last game, we’ll have better results.”

Blackwell put the onus on himself, considering the offense scored only two points in the final seven possessions to allow the Spartans to pull away.

“Down the stretch, we’ve just got to execute a little bit better,” Blackwell said. “I know you’re on the road and it’s a tough environment, but you’ve just got to execute better as a point guard to do that. I think we didn’t do that there. We’re careless with the ball and gave them a few more possessions.”

UW has struggled with effort plays at points against bigger teams. The Spartans turned 13 offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points. It gets lost under UW’s three-point shooting Friday, but UCLA had 20 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points. UW needs to cut those numbers in half to have a chance.

Wisconsin’s offense played its best game in nearly a month Friday, while the Spartans have picked up eight Quad-1 wins in the past month. I wouldn’t be surprised either way with the result, but I’ll lean toward the more consistent team.

Worgull’s Prediction: Michigan State by 5

Record: 25-8 (23-10 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 289 (8.8 per game)

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Wisconsin

Racing Sausages, Wienermobile, ancient canoes all call this place home

Published

8 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Racing Sausages, Wienermobile, ancient canoes all call this place home

Just east of the Capital City Trail crossing at the Yahara River, a nondescript warehouse rises on Madison’s west side. Its blank exterior offers no hint of what’s inside, and even the interior is not set up for glass cases and museum spotlights.

But its more than 180,000-square-feet of climate-controlled space contains the largest collection of North American history outside of the Library of Congress.

In all, the Wisconsin Historical Society holds 3.8 million print publications, 25,000 maps, 3 million images, 125,000 cubic feet of archival material and 750,000 historic and archaeological objects. Most are stored in the State Archive Preservation Facility, including the original Milwaukee Brewers Racing Sausages, one of the country’s first weather maps, traditional Ho‑Chunk baskets and comedian Chris Farley’s football jersey from Edgewood High School.

It’s a largely unknown, certainly underappreciated, Wisconsin treasure.

The archives are managed by the Wisconsin Department of Administration and operate in partnership with the Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Typically, history is presented in a carefully curated way – edited in a textbook, displayed behind a rope, maybe protected under glass. But the archives are an uncurated mix, and in many ways a more accurate reflection of the jumble that is human life than the single storyline we try to make it out to be.

Here, history feels human and unfinished. Every box, aisle and rack holds items that come to life when someone pulls them out and shares their story.

“Without the stories, the passion behind them, the experiences of individuals, it’s just a desk or a chair, but it’s the stories that are there,” said Nick Hoffman, chief creative officer with the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Preserving film history at 40°F

As the heavy doors to the “cold room” on the second floor swing open, chilled air spills out. The room’s temperature holds at 40 degrees Fahrenheit with 35% relative humidity – the ideal balance to protect film and videotape.

More than 44,000 film cans sit packed inside, and despite Madison’s distance from entertainment hubs like Los Angeles and New York, this is one of the world’s leading collections of film and television history.

More than 300 manuscript collections include materials from figures such as Michael and Kirk Douglas, Agnes Moorehead, Rod Serling and Edith Head. The shelves hold Mary Tyler Moore’s full archive, materials from early talk show host Faye Emerson, and footage of the McCarthy hearings later used in a documentary by Emile de Antonio.

The oldest film in the archives − “The Lumberjack,” a 16-minute silent film shot in Wausau − dates back to 1914.

Many donors have no ties to Wisconsin. What binds the archive isn’t geography so much as the pull to preserve a legacy.

“It’s often about an individual,” said Jill Sterrett, chief collections officer.

History written in ink on paper

One of the country’s oldest newspaper collections resides on the third floor, including a July 10, 1776, edition of The Pennsylvania Gazette, with one of the earliest printings of the Declaration of Independence, as well as Frederick Douglass’ 1850s newspaper, and the Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper published in a Native language.

The archives has the ability to bring people down to the individual level, then zoom out to show how an individual connects to a huge moment in U.S. history, Hoffman said. “That’s the scale that we have here,” he said.

In the early 1960s, for example, the Historical Society began collecting material from civil rights groups and activists, becoming a leading center for studying the American civil rights movement. Today, the archives hold hundreds of thousands of documents and recordings from the Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee. Highlander trained activists like Rosa Parks to organize and educate people, especially on voting rights.

That training partly shaped Parks’ refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man, which sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, said senior archivist Lee Grady.

One of the earliest weather maps by Milwaukee scientist Increase Lapham is also in the collections. Lapham made the map in 1868, reconstructing a storm from a decade earlier to show how weather patterns could be tracked. The map served as a proof-of-concept, Grady said, which helped prompt Congress to establish the National Weather Service in 1870.

The archives also have an ongoing, little-known interaction with the public. Grady said the Historical Society fields about 16,000 questions a year, mostly by email, on topics like land records, divorce filings, even whether a house is haunted. Family history requests are the most common, he said.

Racing Sausages, Freedom Desks, tribal baskets share space

About 100,000 objects share space in a cavernous room on the fourth floor.

The original, 7-foot-tall Milwaukee Brewers Racing Sausages tower around the first corner. Made with foam and rubber cement, they are being restored by the Historical Society before they go on display in the new Wisconsin History Center, which is scheduled to open in 2028.

Directly above the Racing Sausages sit “Freedom Day” school desks from Milwaukee. During Milwaukee’s 1964 “Freedom Day” boycotts, thousands of students left segregated public schools to attend alternative Freedom Schools in local churches.

Also on display are materials from the March on Milwaukee – the 200 consecutive nights of marching to protest segregated housing, led by the NAACP Youth Council and advised by the Rev. James Groppi.

Wedged in the middle of a nearby clothing rack is a bowling shirt from Earlene Fuller, a legendary Milwaukee bowler who became known for designing custom shirts, many featuring kente cloth and other African-inspired patterns. She broke down racial barriers in the sport, and was the first Black woman to bowl a perfect 300 game.

There’s also Rosie the Riveter coveralls made in Beloit and Jane Kaczmarek’s “Lucky Aide” smock from Malcolm in the Middle.

“These are telling the stories of everyday efforts to win World War II, to the stories that make us laugh,” said Leo Landis, director of curatorial services.

More aisles open up at the push of a button. Each aisle is arranged by when its contents were donated, a densely packed uncurated cross-section of memorabilia.

One aisle holds West Allis–born speed skater Dan Jansen’s Levi’s velour Olympic warm-up jacket from 1984.

A couple of aisles down are Ho-Chunk baskets, some that date back to the 1800s, weaving together more than a century of tradition.

Ancient canoes sit alongside the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

Downstairs, in one of the unassuming basement rooms, it’s hard to know where to look first.

The tightly packed space holds the original Oscar Mayer Wienermobile as well as a Culver’s sign from one of the first franchises, made from a repurposed Ford dealership sign.

There’s also a Packers helmet-shaped ice shanty built by Bill Casper of Sturgeon for Tomorrow, a nonprofit that promotes sturgeon conservation and celebrates Lake Winnebago’s ice-fishing culture.

But one of the most striking displays underscores how history is still being written.

Two dugout canoes raised from Lake Mendota sit soaking in a chemical bath. Discovered in 2018 and 2022, they have been dated to roughly 1,200 and 3,000 years old.

For the past year and a half, the canoes have been treated with polyethylene glycol, a resin that slowly fills the cells of the waterlogged wood. In about six months, Sterrett said, the canoes will be shipped to Texas A&M to be freeze-dried in a giant chamber, drawing out the water while letting the resin holding its shape.

Sterrett said the canoes, along with others found in Wisconsin lakes, are reshaping what people know about the region’s past climate and how people lived on and with the water.

Authority, access, audience engagement

The Historical Society is no longer just collecting items. It is rethinking ownership, renegotiating who defines history, and in some cases returning pieces and material.

That shift is visible in the “repatriation room,” where desks and shelves made from Menominee Forest wood help ground the consultations between the Historical Society and tribal nations on returning cultural items. Repatriation has expanded in recent decades, moving beyond compliance toward collaboration.

More broadly, archivists are rethinking access and engaging different audiences.

The state archives already operates an inter-archival loan system across University of Wisconsin schools. The Historical Society now is working to move records, such as family and land documents, closer to the communities they are tied to.

Anyone can access materials at the Wisconsin Historical Society headquarters on Library Mall on the UW-Madison campus. But the State Archive Preservation Facility is generally closed to the public, with tours offered just twice a year and some items coming out only for special events. When the Wisconsin History Center opens in early 2028, many items from the archives will be on rotating display.

As the leaders of this repository look to the future, they are convinced interest in history hasn’t waned. The key is letting people know what Wisconsin has, and making it available in a way that makes the most of it.

And as always, sharing all those great stories behind the archives.

As Sterrett said, “The risks of not sharing are far greater.”

New history center will increase access to archives

The new history center, slated to open in early 2028, will provide unprecedented access to the objects, entertainment and print products housed within the archives.

The Wisconsin Historical Society broke ground on its new $160.5 million center in 2025. The five-story, 100,000-square-foot building on Capitol Square in Madison will more than double the exhibition space of the previous history center.

When it opens, the center is expected to welcome 260,000 visitors each year. It will feature three core galleries, a rotating community gallery, rooftop terrace, café as well as educational spaces.

Caitlin Looby covers the Great Lakes and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact: clooby@gannett.com. Follow her on social media @caitlooby.

Caitlin is an Outrider Fellow whose reporting also receives support from the Brico Fund, Fund for Lake Michigan, Barbara K. Frank, and individual contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.

This fundraising effort is made possible through our partnership with Local Media Foundation, a verified 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (tax ID #36-4427750) and EnMotive Company, LLC, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc. USA TODAY Co., Inc. is the parent company of this publication.

The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is made possible through our partnership with Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association, and EnMotive, LLC, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc. USA TODAY Co., Inc. is the parent company of this publication.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 results for June 2, 2026

Published

19 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 results for June 2, 2026

The Wisconsin Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at June 2, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Mega Millions numbers from June 2 drawing

15-26-43-48-60, Mega Ball: 12

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from June 2 drawing

Midday: 0-7-8

Evening: 8-5-8

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from June 2 drawing

Midday: 7-9-8-3

Evening: 4-4-7-5

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning All or Nothing numbers from June 2 drawing

Midday: 01-02-03-05-06-10-11-13-16-21-22

Evening: 02-05-06-09-10-14-16-18-19-20-21

Check All or Nothing payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Badger 5 numbers from June 2 drawing

06-13-26-28-30

Check Badger 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning SuperCash numbers from June 2 drawing

10-14-15-18-34-38, Doubler: N

Check SuperCash payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

Prizes up to $599: Can be claimed at any Wisconsin Lottery retailer.
Prizes from $600 to $199,999: Can be claimed in person at a Lottery Office. By mail, send the signed ticket and a completed claim form available on the Wisconsin Lottery claim page to: Prizes, PO Box 777 Madison, WI 53774.
Prizes of $200,000 or more: Must be claimed in person at the Madison Lottery office. Call the Lottery office prior to your visit: 608-261-4916.

Can Wisconsin lottery winners remain anonymous?

No, according to the Wisconsin Lottery. Due to the state’s open records laws, the lottery must, upon request, release the name and city of the winner. Other information about the winner is released only with the winner’s consent.

When are the Wisconsin Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
Super Cash: 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 3 (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 3 (Evening): 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 4 (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 4 (Evening): 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
All or Nothing (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
All or Nothing (Evening): 9 p.m. CT daily.
Megabucks: 9:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
Badger 5: 9:00 p.m. CT daily.

That lucky feeling: Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

Feeling lucky? WI man wins $768 million Powerball jackpot **

WI Lottery history: Top 10 Powerball and Mega Million jackpots

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Wisconsin editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Democrats make udder mistake with National Dairy Month post

Published

1 day ago

June 2, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin Democrats make udder mistake with National Dairy Month post

Wisconsin Republicans had a field day when the state Democratic Party celebrated the start of National Dairy Month with a post featuring male cattle that don’t produce milk.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin initially posted a “Happy Dairy Month” graphic on Facebook, Instagram and X showing two brown and white cattle with horns and no visible udders.

The party later posted a corrected version, featuring two black-and-white spotted Holstein cows. T-bone steaks with halos and wings floated above them – presumably, where the male cattle had gone.

“We regret that our Dairy Month tweet contained an error. We have ‘taken care’ of the issue, if you catch our drift,” the party wrote June 1.

Side note: Many dairy cattle, including females, naturally have horns. In most cases, they’re removed to prevent injuries to farmers and cattle themselves. But udders are visible only on female cattle, a.k.a. cows.

Tom Tiffany, the leading Republican candidate for governor, jumped on the mistake, posting a video touting his experience growing up on a Wisconsin dairy farm.

Tiffany and other Republicans also criticized Democrats for celebrating the start of Pride Month, which recognizes LGBTQ+ communities and begins June 1 alongside National Dairy Month.

“I regret to inform [Wisconsin Democrats] that you cannot milk a bull. But considering they think men can get pregnant, I guess thinking you can milk a bull tracks too,” Tiffany wrote on X.

Tiffany also said June 1 that, if elected governor, he would no longer fly the Pride flag over the state Capitol in June – a practice started by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in 2019.

Evers also celebrated June Dairy Month with a video message, in part criticizing President Donald Trump’s tariff policies and cuts to federal programs supporting farmers.

Wisconsin is home to about 5,000 dairy farms – more than any other state – and has about 1.27 million cows. National Dairy Month originally started in 1937 as National Milk Month.

Hope Karnopp can be reached at HKarnopp@usatodayco.com.

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