NFL
By: Melo Williams
Wisconsin improved to 17-7 overall and 9-4 in the Big Ten with a 92-90 overtime win at No. 8 Illinois.
UW claimed their first win at the State Farm Center since 1/23/19 and improved to 92-118 all-time against Illinois and have won 17 of the last 26 meetings.
The Badgers overcame a 12-point deficit, 71-59, with 8:10 remaining to pull out the win.
That marked Wisconsin’s largest second-half road comeback win since a 13-point comeback win at Minnesota on 2/16/02.
Tuesday marked the 5th time in the last 9 games in which the Badgers has overcome a double-digit deficit to win the game.
Wisconsin trailed by: 14 at Michigan, 11 at Minnesota, 20 vs. Minnesota, 11 vs. Ohio State and 12 at Illinois.
In erasing a 12-point second-half deficit Tuesday, the Badgers have now tallied 2 double-digit second-half comebacks in Big Ten play (also down 18 vs. Minnesota).
This is the first time Wisconsin has registered 2 such comeback wins in conference play since the 2001-02 season: down 10 at Michigan State and down 13 at Minnesota that season.
Wisconsin improved to 1-2 in overtime games this season, posting its first-ever OT win over Illinois (1-5 all-time).
John Blackwell finished with 24 points, going 5-for-11 from 3-point range.
Blackwell tallied his 6th game with at least 5 triples this season and scored in double figures in 10 straight games, the longest such streak of his career.
Blackwell reached double digit points for the 19th time this season and 63rd time in his career.
Nick Boyd tallied 25 points, including 19 in the second half and overtime. He also added 5 assists with 0 turnovers in 39 minutes of action.
Boyd is the only Badger since at least 2004-05 to tally at least 25 points, 5 assists and 0 turnovers against a top-10 team on the road.
Boyd registered his 15th 20-point game of the season, which ranks 2nd in the Big Ten.
Most 20+ Point Games, Big Ten This Season
Games Player
18 Nick Martinelli (Northwestern)
15 Nick Boyd (Wisconsin)
13 Bennett Stirtz (Iowa)
13 Lamar Wilkerson (Indiana)
Nick Boyd and John Blackwell became the first Big Ten duo to both score 20+ points in 2 top10 road games since at least 2004-05 (also did so at MICH). Only 9 other Big Ten duos have scored 20+ each in a top-10 road game since 2004-05.
Sophomore Austin Rapp finished with 18 points, going 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
Rapp is averaging 18.5 ppg over his last 2 outings, going 9-for-14 from long range.
Rapp has scored in double figures 9 times this season and 33 times in his career.
Nolan Winter totaled 11 rebounds to go with his 4 points.
Winter posted his 13th game with double-digit rebounds this season and the 16th of his career.
Wisconsin scored 92 points, topping 90 for a school-record 10th time this season.
The Badgers are 15-0 when scoring at least 80 this season.
Tuesday night, the Badgers notched their 2nd top-10 ROAD win of the season along with a 91-88 win at No. 2 Michigan on 1/10/26.
Wisconsin and Illinois (2) are the only schools with multiple top-10 road wins this season. UW is 1 of 7 teams with multiple top-10 wins overall this season – no team has more.
Overall under Greg Gard, UW has now collected 17 wins over AP top-10 opponents, with 7 of those coming in true road games.
Those 7 top-10 road wins are tied for the most in the nation during the Gard era.
Most Top-10 Road Wins, Gard Era (since 12/23/15)
Wins Team
7 Wisconsin
7 Illinois
6 Alabama
6 Kansas
5 4 teams tied
The Badgers are now 4-2 in true road games this season.
Next up for Wisconsin is a home matchup vs 10 Michigan State Friday night the Kohl Center.
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