Wisconsin basketball made history with a 116-85 victory over Iowa on Friday at the Kohl Center.
Virtually everything clicked for the Badgers offensively. Wisconsin nailed a school-record 21 three-point field goals en route to a program record for most points scored in a Big Ten game. On top of that, UW’s 116-point output was just four tallies away from the school record — 120 points in 1967 — and was the most scored in Kohl Center history. It led to an all-important first Big Ten win of the 2024-25 season.
Sophomore guard John Blackwell led the way for the Badgers with a career-best 32 points off a blistering 11-of-18 from the field and 6-of-10 from distance. He also snared eight rebounds and dished out five assists in the most impressive performance of his Badger career.
Emerging star forward Nolan Winter dropped 18 points and snagged eight rebounds in the effort alongside veteran center Steven Crowl’s 14 points and seven rebounds.
As a team, Wisconsin shot an absurd 64.5% from the field, 67.7% from deep and 88.2% from the charity stripe in one of the more complete offensive games of the Greg Gard era, if not the program’s history.
Had it GOING 🔥
✅ School-record 21 3⃣s
✅ Most points in Kohl Center history
✅ W pic.twitter.com/fYtZnHZAnk— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) January 4, 2025
Wisconsin traded blows with Iowa for the first stretch of the opening half after entering the matchup having played just once game since its Dec. 14 win over Detroit Mercy. As it did in that contest, the Badgers orchestrated a dominant scoring stretch to blow the game open and did not look back.
Beginning at the 8:44-minute mark of the first half, Wisconsin piloted a 19-2 scoring surge fueled by five combined three-pointers from Max Klesmit, Carter Gilmore and Blackwell. That run propelled Gard’s group to an 11-point lead at halftime.
Blackwell, who poured in 15 points in the first half, continued to scorch the Hawkeyes with eight quick points to open the second half. Wisconsin secured a 20-point lead with over 15 minutes remaining to essentially seal the deal. In the game’s closing minutes, transfer guard Camren Hunter and true freshman point guard Daniel Freitag both scored their first buckets of the season.
With the win, UW improves to 11-3 on the season and collects its third straight win. The team that started 8-0 for the first time in a decade will look to extend its win streak to four during its match against Rutgers on Friday.