(UW ATHLETICS) WEST LAFAYETTE, IND — Thanks to 48 combined points from Nick Boyd and John Blackwell, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team steamed past No. 15 Purdue, 97-93, on Saturday in a raucous Mackey Arena.
Blackwell finished with a game-high 25 points on the strength of five three-pointers. Boyd had 23, including 10 of UW’s last 12 points. He added five assists and three rebounds.
The Badger big man duo of Aleksas Bieliauskas and Austin Rapp were crucial for UW’s spacing. The stretch bigs combined for eight three-pointers as Rapp finished with 17 points, and Bieliauskas 16. Wisconsin continued to spray it from deep, sinking a season-high 18 treys.
The Badgers grabbed an early lead during an electric start as Bieliuaskas nailed two triples, with Blackwell adding an and-one through contact. The Boilermakers responded with a 13-0 run, before a Rapp trey calmed the storm into the 12-minute media timeout.
UW would ramp up the intensity, holding Purdue without a point for over two minutes to get back even. The Badgers would catch fire again from the perimeter, ripping off an 8-2 run to force a Purdue timeout with two minutes in the half. Carrington and Rohde powered the spurt. UW hit 12 threes in the half, taking a 52-47 lead into the locker room.
In a streaky affair, Wisconsin used its momentum to start the second on a 7-2 run. Purdue would answer with an 8-0 spurt of their own, before UW hit right back with an 8-0 surge. Rapp and Bieliauksas spaced the floor with two more threes in the stretch, setting up a wire-to-wire finish.
The teams traded buckets until the 90-second mark, when Purdue got within one-point thanks to a three. Boyd made a jumper in the lane on the other, extending the lead to three, before Purdue cut it back to two with a free throw. The Boilermakers were forced to foul, sending Carrington to the line with 20 seconds remaining. The senior would make both to ice the Badger victory.
Up Next: The Badgers overtook Purdue for the No. 5 seed in the 2026 Big Ten Tournament, presented by TIAA. As it stands, the Badgers will play on Thursday in Chicago, around 2:00 p.m. CT, against the winner of the No. 12 and No. 13 matchup. The Badgers could jump to the No. 4 seed – and the triple-bye – which would see UW start the postseason on Friday.
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