MADISON, Wis. – Admitting to having a case of tunnel vision during games, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard had no idea that the Badgers had set a new program record of 20 made three-pointers until the announcement appeared on the Kohl Center video board. No sooner did it appear than reserve point guard Camren Hunter hit three-pointer number 21, the final punctuation point to Wisconsin’s 116-85 victory over Iowa.

Not only were the 21 three-pointers a new Big Ten record, but the 116 points were a program record in a Big Ten game for Wisconsin (11-3, 1-2 Big Ten), not to mention the second-most points the program has scored in a game in its 126 seasons of basketball.

That kind of point total at Wisconsin would have been unthinkable as little as five years ago. Not this year to Gard considering the Badgers have built an offense with an analytical approach that has yielded dividends.

“When you’re following the plan of how we’ve tried to build this team and play, as we’ve made this offensive evolution, this is a byproduct of it,” said Gard, as UW shot 64.5 percent from the field and averaged 1.611 points per possession. “It’s part spacing. It’s part the talent of the players. You have five guys who can all shoot the three and they share the ball. They are really unselfish.

“All those things added together give you an opportunity to do something like this.”

In the last 25 seasons of Division 1 men’s and women’s basketball, only one team has scored at least 115 points by shooting better than 60 percent from the field, 65 percent from three, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Take a bow, Wisconsin.

Here are my takeaways from a record night at the Kohl Center.

Sophomore guard John Blackwell doesn’t care what you label him – point guard, shooting guard, center, or whatever. In his words, he can do it.

Blackwell hinted that his game was turning a corner in the final weeks of 2024. After two rough Big Ten outings, resulting in too many turnovers and not enough high-quality shots, Blackwell had 10 assists and no turnovers against Butler and Detroit Mercy, all the while shooting 44.4 percent from the floor.

He elevated himself against Iowa with a career-high 32 points, knocking down a career-best six 3FGs (6-for-10). He was effective in putting the ball on the floor and attacking the rim (3-for-5 in the paint), pulling up for paint jumpers (2-for-3), or drilling shots from the perimeter. For the third straight game, Blackwell had five assists.

On UW’s decisive 19-2 run in the first half, Blackwell scored or assisted on 10 consecutive points to turn a close game into the beginning of a rout.

“He’s becoming more and more comfortable with the ball in his hands,” Gard said of Blackwell. “The last three games he has 15 assists to two turnovers, so he is seeing things faster and quicker earlier. I think he’s getting more comfortable in that role … He’s evolving as a player and when you surround him with really good players, we become much more difficult to cover and to guard because we got guys who can score at other positions.”

That balance was on full display against the Hawkeyes. Nolan Winter (18) and Steven Crowl (14) reached double figures in the frontcourt for the third straight game, while John Tonje quietly had 12 points, three steals, three rebounds, and two assists. Even the slumping Max Klesmit got going early with eight points, hitting two threes on passes from Blackwell.

“He wasn’t used to playing the point guard for us, specifically (last season) … but each game he’s gotten better,” said senior point guard Kamari McGee, who had 12 points (4-for-5 3FGs off the bench). “People may say he’s not a point guard. Honestly, in today’s game, there aren’t really any point guards. He’s just a good playmaker and a great scorer for us.”

Having scored in double figures in 12 of 14 games this season, Blackwell added eight rebounds and had a plus/minus ratio of +28.

“Whether it’s Jordan Taylor or Chucky (Hepburn), they’ve had good players at that position,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “He’s maybe a little bit different or a combination of all of them, but he can score. He’s playing with pace. He’s got really good feel, and he’s powerful. He’s a tough cover.”

Gard said Blackwell has a quiet confidence about him. It’s evident that it’s growing by the game.

Defense was optional for both teams through the first 10 minutes. Iowa started 6-for-9 from the floor and was 10-for-17 entering the under-12 media timeout. UW wasn’t far behind at 5-for-7 and 9-for-16, respectively, but were giving up open threes and easy looks in the paint.

The final 30 minutes were drastically different, as UW adjusted some ball screen coverages, were better in limiting its live-ball turnovers, and slowed transition opportunities by taking some better shots. The result was the second-highest scoring offense in the country at 89.7 points per game was 22-for-49 (44.9 percent) from that point on.

“Once we realized they were just coming in here to try and outscore us and they really didn’t care much about the defensive end, we took advantage of that,” McGee said. “We didn’t know we were going to shoot this great tonight, but we trust our teammates and trust our players. We know we can score the ball in bunches. All we had to play a little more defense than them and the game is ours.”

UW managed to curtail many of Iowa’s power scores. While the Badgers let Drew Thelwell score a season-high 25 points, the Badgers held Payton Sandfort (16.5 ppg) to 1-for-9 shooting. UW got Josh Dix under control after he went 6-for-8 in the first half, holding him to 1-for-4 after halftime.

Most importantly, the Badgers made Owen Freeman work. Freeman leads the Hawkeyes in points (17.1) and rebounds (6.5) and had two double-doubles against UW last year. The Badgers made Freeman work Friday, as he needed 11 shots to get 14 points and finished with just three rebounds.

“I thought we did a decent job of keeping the ball out of his hands,” Gard said of UW’s defense on Freeman. “We were able to stop dribble penetration for the most part. At times you got to pick your poison with them because they have so many shooters around him. There was a shift at times between do we need to squeeze and play him more with help or do we need stay attached to more shooters. We did a combination of both.

“The other end was make good offensive players work on the defensive end. I think our movement and our unselfishness, especially with our bigs putting pressure on the rim … could have an effect.”

Every great team needs a player like Carter Gilmore. That was Gard’s message when asked about Gilmore’s impact on Wisconsin improving its defense in the first half.

With Wisconsin wanting to be more mobile at the four, the Badgers played Gilmore over 12 minutes in the first half and 22:41 for the game, using him as a spy in the paint and on the perimeter at times in certain matchups.

The results speak for themselves. When Gilmore wasn’t on the floor in the first half, Iowa was 8-for-11 from the field. The Hawkeyes were 11-for-21 when Gilmore was on the court. The numbers could have been a lot better. Thelwell made an acrobatic layup high off the backboard on a play where Gilmore played textbook defense. He also took a lowered shoulder from Freeman in the chest as he stood outside the restrictive circle, a play that likely would have drawn a charge call two years ago (and perhaps should have still) but was whistled for a block.

In the second half, Gilmore helped hold Iowa to 6-for-17 when he was on the floor.

“He can really quarterback a defense in terms of what he can talk about, how he plugs holes, how he covers up mistakes for others,” Gard said of Gilmore. “The really good teams have a guy like that who understands their role and thrive in their role and make their team better when they’re on the floor.”

26 – Wisconsin had a season-high 26 assists on 40 baskets. The Badgers have had at least 15 assists in 10 games.

17.8 – Scoring in double figures for the ninth time this season, Winter has now scored 15+ points in four straight games and is averaging 17.8 ppg and 8.5 rebounds over that stretch.

64.5 – Wisconsin shot 40-for-62 from the field. That’s UW’s best clip in a Big Ten game since shooting 64.9 percent against Minnesota on 1/3/87. The last time UW shot better than 64.5 percent from the field was a 105-76 win over Arkansas State on 11/6/2023.

67.7 – The Badgers poured in 21-of-31 attempts from deep, their best mark when attempting 10+ threes since an 8-for-11 (72.7 percent) output in a win over Indiana on 2/25/2010.

1993 – Wisconsin scored 100+ points in a Big Ten for the first time since a 101-87 win over Northwestern on 2/3/1993. It’s the most points scored by a Big Ten since Iowa scored 116 versus Northwestern on 2/8/1995.

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