Wisconsin showing toughness on Big Ten win streak; Rutgers up next

While his play and his team's form lately might imply otherwise, Wisconsin guard John Blackwell says that not everything is perfect.

"It's not always going to be sunshine and rainbows," Blackwell said. "You pray about things and you imagine things, and it's not always going to be the case."

However, it's currently the case that the Badgers are one of the hottest teams in the Big Ten Conference with three straight wins. They'll shoot for a fourth on Saturday when they host Rutgers in Madison.

Wisconsin (12-5, 4-2) is coming off a 78-75 win Tuesday night at Minnesota that saw Blackwell play the hero's role. The last three of his 27 points came on a pull-up 3-pointer as time expired that secured the Badgers' 10th straight win over the Golden Gophers.

Coach Greg Gard said the team's recent success has come as a result of players realizing that it takes a certain level of toughness to win in the Big Ten.

"I don't care if you're 5-foot-8 or 7-foot-9, you have to play with that type of mentality," he said.

It also helps when you have a 1-2 punch like Nick Boyd (19.2 ppg) and Blackwell (18.6), who are combining for roughly 45% of the team's scoring.

Meanwhile, Rutgers (9-8, 2-4) has been off since Sunday, when it rallied for a 77-75 overtime home win over Northwestern behind 30 points from Tariq Francis. He scored seven straight for the Scarlet Knights in the extra period.

Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said his team is starting to figure out what it has to do to win games in the Big Ten.

"These guys are getting better," Pikiell said. "They are learning, they are accepting (their) roles and who plays well, plays a lot. We have to compete every day and night. That is kind of the team we are."

Francis, a transfer from NJIT, leads Rutgers in scoring at 15.3 ppg. Dylan Grant adds 12.4 but no one else is contributing more than 7.7.

This will be the only matchup this season between these programs.