WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue has seen Wisconsin men’s basketball at its worst and at its best in 2025-26.
Matt Painter’s Boilermakers blew past the Badgers in the second half in an 89-73 win on Jan. 3 at the Kohl Center. The Boilermakers led by as much as 25 in a game where their then-No. 6 ranking in the USA TODAY coaches poll hardly ever seemed to be in serious jeopardy.
Two months and four days later, Painter and now-No. 14 Purdue witnessed a much different showing from still-unranked Wisconsin.
The Badgers – despite missing starting forward Nolan Winter due to a lower-body injury – hit a season-high 18 3-pointers and had 48 combined points from Nick Boyd and John Blackwell en route to a 97-93 upset win in front of a boisterous Mackey Arena crowd.
So what was different about the Badgers (aside from the red-hot perimeter shooting) on March 7 compared to Jan. 3?
“They didn’t seem like they were on the same page when we played the first game, and obviously they are now,” Painter said in his postgame news conference. “And that’s what competition does. Competition wakes you up.”
Wisconsin turned the switch shortly after its Jan. 3 loss to Purdue. UW won seven of its next eight games and 13 of its 17 remaining Big Ten games. The Badgers suffered unsightly road losses to Ohio State and Oregon, but they also toppled then-No. 1 Michigan on Jan. 10, then-No. 7 Illinois on Feb. 10 and then-No. 10 Michigan State on Feb. 13.
“Now I think our game was probably one of the most important games they had all year,” Painter said. “Because since then, they’ve still stubbed their toe a couple times, like the rest of us. But to win at Illinois, at Michigan and at Purdue speaks volumes for the makeup of this team. And they do it today without Nolan Winter, who’s a big piece of what they do.”
Wisconsin now will go to the Big Ten Tournament as either a No. 4 or No. 5 seed, and recent March Madness bracketology projections have suggested the Badgers could be a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
It's a much better postseason outlook than following the first Purdue game two months and four days earlier, when it was unclear whether the Badgers would even be playing in the NCAA Tournament.
Said Painter: “They’re going to be a tough out in that NCAA Tournament.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Matt Painter said Wisconsin will be ‘tough out’ in March Madness