Wisconsin Badgers
16-6,8-3Big Ten
Ohio State
14-7,6-5Big Ten
Badgers outpace Ohio State, 92-82
January 31, 2026 | Men's Basketball
Five Badgers score in double figures
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's basketball team outpaced Ohio State, 92-82, on Saturday at the Kohl Center. It's UW's seventh win in its last eight games, and the fourth-straight over the Buckeyes.Â
Five Badgers (16-6, 8-3 Big Ten) scored in double figures, led by 20-point performances from John Blackwell (22) and Nick Boyd (21). It's the sixth game the backcourt tandem have each scored 20-plus, with the Badgers being a perfect 6-0 in those contests.
Austin Rapp dropped 19 points off the bench to tally his second-highest scoring game as a Badger. True freshman Aleksas Bieliauskas added 10 points, while hauling in 7 boards.
Nolan Winter notched his 10th double-double of the season, posting 11 points and 11 rebounds. He's now second in the Big Ten for double-doubles this season, and third on the UW single season list, behind only Frank Kaminsky and Ethan Happ.Â
The Badgers fell into an early 11-point hole before firing off a 15-2 run thanks to three triples from Rapp. The sophomore finished with 19 points in the half off of five three-pointers. Blackwell was also key during the run, hitting a three and stealing the ensuing inbound for a layup to give UW the lead. Wisconsin held the lead going into the locker room up 49-43.Â
The sides traded buckets to start the second as each team hit a shooting lull early. After holding OSU (14-7, 6-5) without a point for 3-minutes, Blackwell converted an and-one to give Bucky a double digit advantage. The Badgers didn't look back from there, ultimately reaching 90-points for the ninth time this season - the most 90-point games for a Badger team ever.Â
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Straight from the Court
Head Coach Greg Gard
On the win
"We're playing more physical than we did and we played more physical inside today. We did a really good job on both ends, offensively we were physical and on the rim, too. It's a combination of experience with how we need to do things and a combination of being flat out tougher.
On Rapp's production
"It puts pressure on a defense when we're able to stretch the floor with our bigs. You saw that in the first half, our bigs stretched the floor, him [Rapp] specifically did. And in the second half, because of the floor already being stretched and you have that threat of bigs shooting threes, it opens up driving lanes and spreads people out."
Junior John BlackwellÂ
"I think we just stayed on the attack. Obviously they have two great guards so we tried to attack them as much as we can. But staying in the attack and drawing fouls and then they were collapsing on us so then we were able to kick out some open threes."
Sophomore Austin RappÂ
"I shot the same shot every time but you know I've been going through a bit of a slump lately. I still trust my shots, and so do my teammates. My teammates are finding me, and keep encouraging me to shoot it. I think the encouragement of my teammates helped me with that. Just making sure to stay ready and keep shooting."
Up Next: The Badgers get a week off before hitting the road for a matchup with Indiana on Saturday, Feb. 7. That game will air live on FOX at 11 a.m. CT. UW won last year's matchup against IU, 76-64. The Hoosiers (15-7, 6-5 B1G) are coming off an upset win over No. 12 Purdue on Tuesday, and survived a double overtime thriller at UCLA on Saturday.Â
Highlights:
Postgame Press Conference:
