MINNEAPOLIS—John Blackwell had 25 points and a career-high 11 rebounds to help 12th-ranked Wisconsin beat Minnesota 74–67 on Wednesday night.
John Tonje added 18 points and seven boards for the Badgers (23–7, 13–6), who forged a three-way tie for third place in the Big Ten with a top-four seed and the accompanying double-bye for the conference tournament in sight.
Wisconsin, the national free-throw shooting leader, went 21 for 24. Minnesota, the Big Ten’s worst team at the line, was 8 for 15.
Brennan Rigsby led the Gophers (15–15, 7–12) with 18 points and Lu'Cye Patterson added 15 points in Minnesota’s ninth straight loss to Wisconsin. Dawson Garcia, the Big Ten’s fourth-leading scorer, had 14 points on 6-for-17 shooting in his last home game.
Takeaways
Wisconsin: Without starter Max Klesmit for a second straight game, the Badgers endured a couple of concerning offensive lulls by committing only two turnovers in a resilient second half that saw an 11-point lead become a two-point deficit.Minnesota: Finding scoring beyond Garcia has been a grind for the Gophers, the only Big Ten team averaging below 70 points per game. Rigsby, who had a career-high 20 points and the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left in a 67–65 win at Nebraska on Saturday, has been a late bright spot.
Key moment
Patterson drew a charge on Tonje that sent him to the bench with four fouls and 8:48 left and hit a 3-pointer for a 53–51 lead that briefly put Minnesota in front.Key stat
Garcia’s 3-pointer on the opening possession hit the 2,000-point mark for his five-year college career, which includes one season each at Marquette and North Carolina. He’s 10th on Minnesota’s all-time scoring list in 87 games.Up next
Wisconsin wraps up conference play Saturday against Penn State. Minnesota finishes Sunday at Rutgers.By Dave Campbell
