Well, that was quite a rollercoaster at the end.
The Wisconsin Badgers earned their second-straight Big Ten road win dramatically, defeating the rival Minnesota Golden Gophers 78-75 on a buzzer-beating
three-pointer from John Blackwell. With the win, the Badgers extended their winning streak against the Gophers to 10 games, the longest since 1912-1916.
It had been a while since the Badgers hit a last-second shot at the buzzer for a win. According to Matt Lepay, this was the first buzzer-beater for the win since Bronson Koenig’s magic against Xavier in 2016.
While the Badgers earned another clutch win, they must fix their defense, particularly on the interior. Minnesota dominated in the paint this game, outscoring Wisconsin 40-20. As Rohan previously mentioned, the Gophers had their way against the Badgers on dribble drives to the rim. The Badgers allowed the Gophers to finish the game shooting 52 percent from the field.
Here are three Badger standouts from Wisconsin’s rivalry win over Minnesota.
John Blackwell
Blackwell was the hero of this game with this fantastic shot at the end.
Those three points capped off a 27-point performance for Blackwell, who finished 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-7 from behind the three-point line. When Minnesota took a double-digit lead early in the second half, Blackwell responded with two of those five threes to get the Badgers back in the game.
Braeden Carrington
What a return to Williams Arena for the former Gopher.
Carrington, booed every time he touched the ball, scored a career-high 21 points off the bench. The Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, native was hot from distance, as he finished with 7-of-12 from three. For some reason, the Gophers continued to lose track of Carrington this game as he kept hitting wide-open shots from the floor.
Nolan Winter
Yes, he needs to hit those free throws at the end, and yes, he had a bad foul on a three-point attempt by Cade Tyson in the second half. However, Winter collected his eighth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. The junior forward from Lakeville, Minnesota, is now fifth in the Big Ten, averaging 8.9 rebounds per game.
