Duo sparking Wisconsin; Penn State eyes 1st Big Ten win

On the court, Wisconsin guards Nick Boyd and John Blackwell are fierce competitors.

Off the court, the duo could not be more different.

"Nick has a different personality," Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. "Nick's a little more outgoing, Nick's more outspoken, Nick wears his emotions on his sleeve more than what ‘JB' does. And that's perfectly fine because (former star John) Tonje didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve. He was very quiet and stoic.

"They're all different. I think you just work on the chemistry together."

The chemistry experiment is working well as Boyd and Blackwell have led the Badgers to four straight victories. Wisconsin (13-5, 5-2 Big Ten Conference) will try to make it five in a row when it tips off against Penn State (9-9, 0-7) on Thursday at University Park, Pa.

Boyd is coming off a 32-point performance in a win over Rutgers on Saturday. He leads Wisconsin with 19.9 points per game on 48% shooting from the field.

Blackwell ranks second in scoring with 18.6. He earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors on Monday, marking his second such distinction of the season.

As the Badgers are surging, Penn State is slumping.

The Nittany Lions will try to snap a five-game losing streak when they return home. They are coming off a 96-73 loss at Maryland on Sunday.

Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said his team is making too many defensive lapses.

"The consistency of our defense has been an issue," Rhoades said. "We don't play consistently in half-court defense, just enough to get stops and continuous stops, and when we have, we haven't rebounded a high enough clip, getting clean rebounds and one-and-dones to create greater offense."

Kayden Mingo leads Penn State with 15.2 points per game. Freddie Dilione V is next with 13.6 and Melih Tunca rounds out the top three scorers with 9.6.

Penn State is 7-4 at home this season. Wisconsin is 2-1 on the road.