Nick Boyd scored 19 of his 25 points after halftime and John Blackwell added 24 points to lead Wisconsin to a 92-90 overtime victory over No. 8 Illinois on Tuesday night in Big Ten play at Champaign, Ill.
Austin Rapp had 18 points off the bench as the Badgers (17-7, 9-4 Big Ten) won for the eighth time in their past 10 games. Wisconsin committed just four turnovers and recovered from a 12-point, second-half deficit to record its second huge road victory of the season. The Badgers notched a 91-88 win over then-No. 2 Michigan on Jan. 10.
Keaton Wagler scored 34 points and Tomislav Ivisic added 19 points and 11 rebounds for Illinois (20-5, 11-3), which lost its second straight contest following a 12-game winning streak.
David Mirkovic added 12 points, Jake Davis chipped in 11 and Ben Humrichous had 10 for the Fighting Illini, who played without Andrej Stojakovic (ankle).
Boyd converted a three-point play for the first points of overtime and Blackwell knocked down a trey to make it 87-81 with 3:24 left. Boyd added a driving hoop for an eight-point lead with 2:36 remaining.
Ivisic scored in the interior and Wagler buried a trey to bring the Illini within 89-86 with 1:30 left. Mirkovic split two free throws with 44 seconds left as Illinois moved within two.
Braeden Carrington made two free throws with 14.2 seconds left to give the Badgers a four-point lead. Humrichous then sank a trey to move Illinois within one with 6.3 seconds left.
Blackwell split two free throws with 5.7 seconds left, but Wagler’s running 3-pointer bounced off the rim as time expired.
The Illini shot 53.3% from the field, including 15 of 33 from 3-point range.
The Badgers made 43.4% of their attempts and hit 16 of 36 from behind the arc. Wisconsin beat the Illini for the second straight time after losing the previous nine.
Rapp buried a 3-pointer to give Wisconsin an 81-80 lead with 56.3 seconds remaining in regulation. Wagler was fouled and made the first free throw with 35.3 seconds left but missed the second to leave the game tied.
Blackwell made two 3-pointers as the Badgers opened the second half with an 11-2 spurt. His second trey gave Wisconsin a 49-46 lead.
The Badgers later led 51-49 before Illinois went on a 14-1 burst to take a 63-52 lead with 11:21 left.
Wagler’s 3-pointer gave Illinois a 68-56 advantage with 8:58 remaining. Illinois led by seven with under five minutes left before Blackwell and Boyd scored on layups and Rapp drained a 3-pointer to tie it at 76 with 2:19 left.
Ivisic scored 17 first-half points as the Illini led 44-38 at the break. Blackwell had 10 points in the half for the Badgers.
