Blackwell carries No. 12 Wisconsin past Minnesota 74-67 with 25 points and career-best 11 boards

Mar 6, 2025, 04:03 am

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.

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