Wisconsin Basketball 2025-26

[Jim French Stepstool]

31 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

With about 3:00 left in the game, I was thinking this is going to be the best W of the season. Unfortunately, they did not close it out very clean.

Still it was going to be a tough game to win against this MN team. They play hard and disciplined on D and slow the pace offensively.
 

I think going forward we will see more smaller lineups with Carrington and Janicki instead of a true 5. It worked well in this game and will against most teams they will play outside of the Michigan and Purdue type teams

Take away the penetration from their guards & Minnesota reminded me a little of a Bennett-coached team (either one). And that's a pretty big compliment.

Good point re the smaller lineups. It even looked OK vs Michigan, and as you said that's a squad you'd figure you couldn't do it against. Carrington has really attacked the boards the last couple games; that makes it more of an option. For sure, when Rapp is good to go he'll need to earn his minutes.

[homer]

11 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

Obviously Michigan is the best win. I was just convinced this was going to be a letdown loss coming off that win and was pleasantly surprised by how they came out and played in the second half

Yeah I was absolutely expecting a letdown after the Michigan game and it looked that way in the 1st half. Tons of credit to those kids for coming back.

[Samurai Bucky]

15 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

But along with the two mentioned above, Janicki deserves a ton of credit for his work on the defensive end.

I thought it was funny how Morris said he was put in for defensive purposes and then has a terrible foul with 24 seconds to go.  Curse of the commentator!

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 hours ago, homer said:

 Tons of credit to those kids for coming back.

Back-to-back road games where the visitors were down double-digits & came back to win. I wonder how often that happens?

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 1/13/2026 at 9:07 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

 With another roadie coming up Saturday this was huge.

Obvious whoops on my part. Game Saturday is in Madison.

[Jim French Stepstool]

According to the pregame info there is no one listed as 'out' or 'questionable' so it looks like Rapp will return today. Would be a nice day to ease him back in, maybe see some minutes from Kinziger & Jones, maybe lessen Winters' minutes as he's been ridden very hard recently. All these things require coming out solid & hopefully not giving Rutgers much hope they can pull off an upset. Here's hopin'.

[Samurai Bucky]

#2 from Rutgers reminds me of Side Show Bob.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

17 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

#2 from Rutgers reminds me of Side Show Bob.  

Since we're going there, I always thought Pikiell resembled a youngish Rodney Dangerfield.

[yourout]

Game isn't over yet boys. 

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

What happened, was with 13-14 minutes left Gard had all five starters on the bench. Up 26, I had zero problem with doing that leading to the under-twelve TO. But the offense from those five bogged down, Rutgers got on a roll & started hitting threes (Zrno did his Larry Bird impersonation), and even after the starters returned we stayed in love with the 3-point shot, which was a bad idea but understandable given the success we had with it up to that point. Water finds its' mark; we're a pretty good 3PT shooting team but the inside success was also evident today & we forgot about that for several minutes. Then Boyd basically took over the game.

Fun fact: Will Garlock has put up ten shots this season. He's made eight.

Huge props to Pikiell & Rutgers for leaving his guys on the floor, turning up the heat defensively on a freshman PG joined by four guys who hadn't played all day & cutting a 14-point game down to 9 at the buzzer. Whatever.

[RedStickBrew]

1 minute ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

What happened, was with 13-14 minutes left Gard had all five starters on the bench. Up 26, I had zero problem with doing that leading to the under-twelve TO. But the offense from those five bogged down, Rutgers got on a roll & started hitting threes (Zrno did his Larry Bird impersonation), and even after the starters returned we stayed in love with the 3-point shot, which was a bad idea but understandable given the success we had with it up to that point. Water finds its' mark; we're a pretty good 3PT shooting team but the inside success was also evident today & we forgot about that for several minutes. Then Boyd basically took over the game.

Fun fact: Will Garlock has put up ten shots this season. He's made eight.

Huge props to Rutgers for turning up the heat defensively on a freshman PG joined by four guys who hadn't seen the floor all day & cutting a 14-point game down to 9 at the buzzer. Whatever.

Agreed. This was mostly UW dominating the game. I do think they let up defensively some in the second half but overall what was expected in this one. 

[RedStickBrew]

Nick Boyd does some things on D that are frustrating every game like going for steals and missing which puts his teammates in a position to cover for him and sometimes they give up easy buckets. He goes under screens on the perimeter multiple times every game and gives up open looks.
 

But looking at his offensive stats recently it’s hard to be too upset with him. Yesterday he had 32 points, shot 50% from the floor, got to the free throw line, had 9 assists and 1 turnover. Pretty good player, glad we have him. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

11 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

Nick Boyd does some things on D that are frustrating every game like going for steals and missing which puts his teammates in a position to cover for him and sometimes they give up easy buckets. He goes under screens on the perimeter multiple times every game and gives up open looks.
 

But looking at his offensive stats recently it’s hard to be too upset with him. Yesterday he had 32 points, shot 50% from the floor, got to the free throw line, had 9 assists and 1 turnover. Pretty good player, glad we have him. 

Yeah, he's put the team on his back many times, probably more often than he should have to. Saturday when Rutgers made their run was a good example. I just glanced at the stats from the last game & didn't realize he had nine assists. To do that while scoring 32 is pretty rare.

Going under the screens---I wonder if that's an energy-saving device on his part as he certainly expends a lot on the offensive end (not condoning it, just wondering if that's the reason). That might work out well on Thursday as I'm assuming his assignment will be Kayden Mingo who hasn't shot it well from 3PT range. Reverse jinx is on me if Mingo goes 5-8 from deep🤢.

[Samurai Bucky]

9 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yeah, he's put the team on his back many times, probably more often than he should have to. Saturday when Rutgers made their run was a good example. I just glanced at the stats from the last game & didn't realize he had nine assists. To do that while scoring 32 is pretty rare.

In the post game presser, Gard mentioned how Boyd is learning how to play off of two feet.  He is becoming a more well-rounded player as opposed to putting down the shoulder and driving to the left side.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Big game tonight in State College. Get past this one, and you've got three nice home games before a brutal seven-game stretch that includes tough roadies @Indiana, OSU, and Illinois, home chances against MSU and Iowa, and the west coast trip to Oregon and Washington. I suspect there will be multiple losses in there, so it'd be nice to bank another Q2 win tonight.

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

I see three reasons why this could be a much tougher game than people may think. Road game, which can never be taken for granted. Nolan Winter is listed as 'questionable' (sounds like an ankle issue). And from what I heard the game is not being played in the Bryce Jordan Center, which sometimes gives off a bit of a mausoleum vibe. It's at Rec Hall, which was built in 1929. Those old gyms can feel claustrophobic, and PSU often likes to zone trap both in the half court & full court, which feeds into that. If UW struggles I would guess the culprits would be turnovers & settling for so-so shots rather than working to break the defense down. Guard well, contain Mingo, and refuse to hoist anything that isn't a solid look whether it comes 8 secs into the clock, 20, or 28. And don't neglect touching the post, even if Winter isn't available. We forgot about that in the 2nd half vs Rutgers.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

 Nolan Winter is listed as 'questionable' (sounds like an ankle issue)

Don't know how much less than 100% he is, but Winter is in the starting lineup, so good news.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Well, that's not the Badgers the best win of the year, but it's probably their most impressive performance.

Never sneeze at any road win. Getting one by 30 is great.

Right now, this team is playing very well and playing together. If they continue to put in this kind of effort, their bracket standing is going to be a lot better than the 8-10 range they're currently showing up in mocks.

[Jim French Stepstool]

17 hours ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Well, that's not the Badgers the best win of the year, but it's probably their most impressive performance.

Never sneeze at any road win. Getting one by 30 is great.

Right now, this team is playing very well and playing together. If they continue to put in this kind of effort, their bracket standing is going to be a lot better than the 8-10 range they're currently showing up in mocks.

They're saying this is their most one-sided win in a conference road game. Ever. Hard to believe. After the 2nd half of the Rutgers game, message (from Gard) obviously received. loved how they came out after the break.

When they play as well as this, I like to find guys in the margin that might not be headliners, but were outstanding. I was all ready to say you can't play any better than Janicki did w/o scoring, but he blew that with the late three. Terrific floor game, esp on the defensive end. Garlock, if he ever gives them an offensive threat it won't be this season, but his defense is coming around & it was very solid tonite, along with 4 boards. Great game from Rohde, on both ends. And Austin Rapp scored 10, but 4 assists & 3 boards to go with it. Very nice floor game from him. And Kinzingers' shooting form is so pretty.

Like you said, now you're at 6-2 with 3 in a row coming up at home. The ugly games vs Nebraska & BYU are smaller in the rearview mirror every day. Stay hungry; keep growing.

[yourout]

I have to give kudos to the Wisconsin women's team. They upset Nebraska at home and are now 11 and 1 at home on the season. Outside of a real clunker at Maryland they've been reasonably competitive with everybody.

[RedStickBrew]

Great to see Rapp contribute tonight. He was active and engaged on both ends of the floor. Carrington with 17 points in 16 minutes is incredible to have coming off the bench. Janicki continued his overall good play as well. If this continues, that is a really strong 8 deep. 

[yourout]

I'm sure he wants to start but Carrington might possibly be the best sixth man in the conference And it allows him to go against usually substitutes from the opponent.

[homer]

UW is playing at the fastest tempo since KenPom started (1997). Last year was 2nd fastest. Gard has really changed the offensive philosophy. I don't know what they're giving up to do that, but it's interesting nonetheless.

[RedStickBrew]

12 minutes ago, homer said:

UW is playing at the fastest tempo since KenPom started (1997). Last year was 2nd fastest. Gard has really changed the offensive philosophy. I don't know what they're giving up to do that, but it's interesting nonetheless.

What is impressive to me is that they are still really efficient offensively. They are not turning it over at a much higher rate either. Maybe some more lazy defensive possessions. But they have mostly still adhered to Wisconsin principles while modernizing the offense. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, homer said:

UW is playing at the fastest tempo since KenPom started (1997). Last year was 2nd fastest. Gard has really changed the offensive philosophy. I don't know what they're giving up to do that, but it's interesting nonetheless.

What's nice about it is it's been done at a gradual rate, rather than trying to go from zero to 60 in one season. That's helped with the continuity. And people like Davis, Storr, Tonje & Blackwell were given a little rope to take advantage of the looser leash & responded with the type of numbers that potential recruits can't help but notice.

It's easy to say they've given up something on the defensive end. And they've struggled there at times in recent years. But you could make the argument that the increased pace inflates numbers both ways. IMO the bigger factor is the nature of the portal & roster turnover. Under Bo & in the earlier Gard years you'd have people drilled in defensive concepts (the 'rules') for 3, 4, even 5 years until they worked in concert like five fingers on a hand. Hard to replicate that when you almost feel lucky to have someone for more than a couple seasons. I'll always miss the days of a Wilkinson, Showalter, Jason Chappell or Gilmore spending half a decade getting better & better and making themselves into guys you can't win without.