Nick Boyd scored 25 points and John Blackwell had 24 to lead Wisconsin to a 92-90 overtime victory over No. 8 Illinois on Tuesday night.
The pair combined for nine of the Badgers’ 11 points in overtime, handing the Illini their second straight overtime loss. Illinois lost Saturday at No. 10 Michigan State.
Wisconsin (17-7, 9-4 Big Ten) trailed by 12 points with 8:10 to go in regulation but sent the game into overtime at 81-all thanks to two 3-pointers by Austin Rapp in the final two minutes. Rapp finished with 18 points.
The Badgers’ Nolan Winter scored four points after a career-high 26 in an overtime loss Saturday at Indiana, but he had 11 rebounds.
Keaton Wagler scored 34 points for Illinois (20-5, 11-3), which played without injured starters Kylan Boswell (hand) and Andrej Stojakovic (ankle).
Tomislav Ivisic had 19 points and 11 rebounds, David Mirkovic had 12 points, Jake Davis had 11 and Ben Humrichous had 10 for the Illini.
Ivisic scored 17 points in the first half. He played nearly the entire game wearing a No. 52 jersey after his No. 13 jersey was ripped in the opening minutes of the contest.
The Illini came into the game as the No. 5 free-throw shooting team in the nation but were 11 of 19 at the line. Their eight offensive rebounds were a season low and their 13 turnovers were the most in a Big Ten game.
The teams combined for 69 3-point attempts, with Wisconsin shooting 16 of 36 and Illinois going 15 of 33.
Illinois led 44-38 at halftime, rallying from an early eight-point deficit.
