9 thoughts from Wisconsin basketball's season-opening win vs. Campbell
A mighty fine start for the Badgers’ 2025-26 season. Here's what stood out.
MADISON, Wis. — It’s a good sign for this University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team to open its season with a blowout.
Even if there’s plenty to improve upon.
Coach Greg Gard and No. 24 Wisconsin (1-0) entered Monday’s season-opener with four transfers and four freshmen that will need to continue meshing with key returners as practices and games move forward. The Badgers didn’t look sharp at times, which obviously was expected at this point. But they utilized a pair of key runs — one during each half — that propelled them to a 96-64 win over Campbell (0-1) on Monday at the Kohl Center.
“Obviously, a lot that we’ll take from the game, both good and things that we have to get immensely better at,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. “But I was happy with how we closed, specifically defensively there in the last 7 to 8 minutes to hold them to, I think, just four free throws.
“It’s obvious. I say we have, at times we have water in our gas tank, meaning we sputter, and then we catch fire, and then we sputter. And that’s both ends of the court. We really showed some good things defensively, and then we don’t, and the same thing offensively. But just, I think, how we closed the game was, I saw more consistency.”
Here are more thoughts from Wisconsin’s win, along with postgame quotes from coach Greg Gard, guards John Blackwell and Nick Boyd, and forward Nolan Winter.
Postgame interviews
Badgers’ big run in first half
Wisconsin was down 16-11 after a DJ Smith 3-pointer, but the Badgers responded with a 19-3 run to go up by 11 points with 6 minutes, 45 seconds to play in the first half. Blackwell contributed six of those 19 points, but Wisconsin also received scoring contributions from five other players: Winter (four), Jack Janicki (three), Austin Rapp (two), Boyd (two) and Braeden Carrington (two).
John Blackwell impressed in 2025-26 debut
Blackwell led the way with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting. That included draining 6 of 11 from 3-point range while grabbing four rebounds and dishing out three assists.
Winter, who came to Wisconsin at the same time as Blackwell, has seen how the guard has taken a “huge step” in a leadership role since the end of last season.
“Older, it’s crazy, I’m calling John Blackwell older right now,” Winter said. “Growing up with him, I still remember being at Smith Hall with him.
“But just to have him out there and his mindset has taken a huge leap mentally, and that’s huge for this squad.”