How Wisconsin basketball unraveled in final moments vs High Point in March Madness

PORTLAND, Ore. – Nick Boyd and John Blackwell put the Wisconsin Badgers on their backs many times in 2025-26.

Boyd and Blackwell both exceeded 20-plus points in 11 games heading into the men’s NCAA Tournament, and the Badgers won all 11 games. That included games against then-No. 1 Michigan and Illinois (when the Illini were No. 7 and again when they were No. 9).

“I can’t even put a word to how well they played and how much they meant to the team, both on and off the court,” Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter said.

So it was perhaps no surprise that the Boyd-and-Blackwell-dependent season ended on Boyd and Blackwell’s backs in an 83-82 upset loss to 12th-seeded High Point in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Boyd and Blackwell scored 27 and 22 points, respectively, while each shooting 50% from the field in the March Madness game. But when the Panthers made it a game in the final minute, Wisconsin’s playmaking duo’s fortunes took a costly turn for the worse.

Wisconsin had a chance to turn its one-point lead to either three or four with about an 11-second difference between the shot and game clocks. But Boyd’s 19th shot attempt of the day was a heavily contested layup that went off the bottom of the backboard – his first miss in nearly five minutes.

Blackwell almost came up with the offensive rebound, but the defensive rebound instead set up an outlet pass to High Point’s Chase Johnston, who made the go-ahead fastbreak layup with 11.7 seconds remaining. Even then, Wisconsin still had a chance to win it, trailing by one point with the ball.

But Wisconsin again went with Boyd, and the star guard’s 20th shot attempt of the day was blocked. The Badgers, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said, “were trying to open the floor for Nick and let him go downhill.”

Boyd, looking retrospectively, “probably could have got a better shot.” But when it goes down to a game-winning shot opportunity, turning to one of the guards in a special backcourt duo was a logical choice.

“We’ve been riding with him all season,” UW guard Braeden Carrington said. “We’re not going to change it now. I think everybody trusted him. The whole team trusted him. I trusted him, and he trusted himself. If the ball’s in his hands – him or JB – we expect him to get a bucket, so I think that was our best shot.”

Wisconsin still theoretically had one more shot at the win after High Point’s Cam’Ron Fletcher missed the front end of 1-and-1 free throws. But High Point intercepted the cross-court pass to end the game.

“We took our timeout to obviously stop the clock,” Gard said. “We had a roll play. The inbounder had a few options. One of the options was throw it deep to Nolan. Rapp was back there, as well. We knew we had to advance the ball to try to get something more than just a half court heave. We wanted to get the ball into the front court if we could.”

Of course, the March Madness loss – extending UW’s streak to eight seasons without playing in the Sweet 16 (excluding the COVID-19-shortened 2019-20 season) – would not have been so much on Boyd and Blackwell’s backs if the Badgers performed better in other aspects.

High Point made eight of its last 11 shots. Wisconsin, on the other hand, made only five of its last 13 shots. It turned an eight-point UW lead with seven minutes remaining to a tied game with more than two minutes remaining.

“They made shots, and we didn’t,” Winter said. “They hit some daggers, and we couldn’t respond. And that’s what March is all about. So you got to tip your cap. They deserved it.”

Boyd was the one player who seemed to have his shot falling in the closing stretch, scoring 12 of Wisconsin’s last 14 points against High Point. He was just one shot short of saving the Badgers from another heartbreaking March Madness exit.

“We’re going to trust him with the ball in his hands every time,” UW guard Andrew Rohde said. “He’s done so much for us all year, so we’re living with that.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How Wisconsin basketball unraveled vs High Point in March Madness