The No. 24 Wisconsin Badgers cruised to a 96-64 victory over the Campbell Fighting Camels on Monday, pulling off a big win in the season opener.
At the forefront of the blowout was Badgers star John Blackwell, who poured in 31 points on 10/19 from the field, tying his career-high with six threes as he had a great night to kick off his junior season.
Blackwell was expected to take another step forward this season after a breakout sophomore campaign where he averaged 15.2 points per game while complementing
star John Tonje in the backcourt. He elected to test the NBA Draft waters, going through the pre-draft process this offseason, before ultimately returning to Madison for another year.
On Monday, he showed how his game has continued to grow, leading the charge for Wisconsin’s big runs and impressing with his catch-and-shoot ability, as well as his maneuvering with the ball to get to his spots. The confidence remains high, but Blackwell just looks the part of a better player, which is big for the Badgers this season.
“I think that comes from maturity,” head coach Greg Gard said after the game. “The pre-draft experience was good for him. It showed him how good he can be, and it also showed him he’s not good enough yet. And he’s hungry. He’s very driven. He’s humble. You wouldn’t know, being around him, that he is that type of player because he carries himself in a humble way. He’s put the time in. He’s changed his body and his confidence and steadiness. He’s confident because he’s put in the work. He knows he’s a good player, and now, go prove it and help lead our team every night.”
A big part of Blackwell’s mentality is staying level-headed, which not only keeps him composed throughout the game, but also keeps his teammates in check with the emotions of a gameday environment.
“He’s such a good [leader],” Gard added about Blackwell. “His moxie. He never gets too high. Never gets too low. He’s talking with me on the sidelines, what he’s seeing. He’s just calm and just has a very mature approach and viewpoint. Sees the game really well. I think the game comes really easy to him. With really good players, it does, it slows down, and [he] kind of sees it in slow motion. And just the things he talked about, like I said on the sidelines, when he walks over by me, points out a few things. And it’s always just steady. Never too high, never too low. Just working on what’s next.”
I spoke with Blackwell back during Wisconsin’s local media day last month, where the guard shared insight of how beneficial the pre-draft process was for him.
“It was a lesson,” Blackwell said about the process. “Like I got to learn different things and learn different opportunities and learn from the best of the best. Like the best of the best trainers, the best of the best strength coaches, the best of the best mentors, the NBA players, or the guys who got drafted this year. I learned a lot of things from them, and it’s ultimately going to help.
“It’s a blessing. It was just a blessing to be able to do these opportunities and learn different things. And ultimately, the goal was with doing that process was to honestly just get better for either the NBA or for my team.”
In general, Blackwell isn’t necessarily the loudest player. He’s let his play do the talking during his first two seasons, as Wisconsin has had that veteran leadership on the team. But now, the guard is growing into that leadership role, and the draft process opened his eyes to what that looks like.
“I think I’ve learned that [vocal leadership] with going to the NBA process, it’s just like not even about me being a leader as a guard. We have to be vocal, we have to be loud,” Blackwell said. “I thought I talked a lot when I was on the court, but obviously I didn’t. I got to talk a lot more, and I kind of just gotta get better at it every day. It’s not naturally me. I’m not naturally just so loud. I just move how I move, and I just lead by my play.
“I’m playing hard, I’m scoring the ball, I’m talking junk. It’s just like, I got to be positive. I’m always positive. I got be positive, encouraging, loud every single moment of the game, every single time [till] I’m tired and I’m out of breath. Like, just being loud every single day, every single drill. Like, you know, obviously I’m not going to do it every single time. But those are ways that I get better in the leadership, just being vocal off the court.”
Coming into this season, I felt that Blackwell was primed to take a big jump. His work ethic was already going to place him in a better position when it comes to his knowledge and feel for the game. But, playing with other talented ball-handlers like Nick Boyd and Andrew Rohde was going to create the catch-and-shoot opportunities that he thrived on as a freshman. We saw that in game No. 1, where five of Blackwell’s threes were off the catch.
Defensively, Blackwell got the feedback that he was a quality on-ball defender. It was now about remaining as active and attentive on details off the ball to bring him another step forward.
“I think I was strong defensively on the ball. Creating my own shot, getting downhill, I mean, you guys can see that those are my strong suits. Being able to score the ball, being able to find guys. I think in a way, the things I need to work on, which I already knew, they showed me some things that I also need to work on,” Blackwell said about his pre-draft feedback. “My off-the-ball defense, my consistency, my shooting. I mean, for me, honestly, taking care of the ball, I mean, I feel like I had too many turnovers in my shooting, causing turnovers, and just unnecessary turnovers that I can cut down.”
“There were things like being too physical with the off arm or just like not playing off two feet, throwing risky passes, and things I can just control on my own, which I’ve done better with, and yeah, just finding the right guys and taking care of the ball. I think with me playing point guard last year, I think we get it, it’s a new thing. Like I’m going to mess up, and I knew that. But you know, just learning from those mistakes and coming back and fixing it.”
Now, in the perfect situation with quality players around him, Blackwell is ready to take that next step. And he showed exactly that with a stellar season opener on Monday.
