Overtime: Wisconsin Comes Up Short Against Oklahoma, 84-83 in Milwaukee

Wisconsin junior forward Nolan Winter scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in Friday's exhibition loss to Oklahoma.

MILWAUKEE — It won’t count for real until November, but No. 24 Wisconsin was handed its first exhibition loss of the 2025-26 season, falling 84-83 to Oklahoma at Fiserv Forum. The Badgers had their share of issues on both ends of the floor, specifically defensively, as the Sooners shot 52 percent from the field, including 55.0 percent from 3-point range. Trailing by as many as nine in the second half, UW made a run to tie the game, but couldn’t generate enough stops late.

“This is why we want to do these things, to get in this environment, and get a lot of things exposed,” UW head coach Greg Gard said. “To be able to see a team that can challenge us in different ways, I think this is great for us. We’ll take a jump from this.

“I think the thing that excites me the most about this group is what we are not. We’re not good enough yet on the defensive end, specifically. That tells me we have a long way to go, but that’s the exciting part. We better have a long way to go in October. That means the ceiling is high for this group.

“We’ll learn more from this than the last 10 days of practice. This will help us.”

What We Learned

Wisconsin Struggled From 3-Point Range

Andrew Rohde got a great look in the corner to potentially swing the game in Wisconsin’s favor, but his corner triple didn’t fall. That’s pretty much how it went for the Badgers all night.

The numbers look better than they were as UW finished 10-of-31 from deep, and one of those was meaningless at the final buzzer. The Badgers started 1-of-8 from beyond the arc, and at one point, were 5-of-19 before getting it going in the last 10 minutes and change.

Senior guard Nick Boyd had an especially tough night from the outside, going 1-of-6 from the outside. Rohde and junior guard John Blackwell were each 1-of-4 from 3-point range as well.

Despite the tough shooting night, UW still scored 83 points on 43.5 percent shooting.

“Wisconsin is hard to guard. It’s just a different dynamic with guys that big that can shoot it,” Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser said.

The Badgers Couldn’t Overcome Bad Nights From a Pair of Starters

Boyd and junior forward Nolan Winter each dug Wisconsin in holes at various points in the game. Boyd came on late and finished with 19 points, but needed 17 shots to get there, and was very up and down throughout. While Boyd did limit his turnovers to just one, he played out of control at times, forcing shots over the Oklahoma players and leaving points on the board with the inability to finsih in-deep.

Credit Boyd for his late efforts and for getting the crowd involved. His layup briefly gave the Badgers a 68-67 lead with just 2:44 remaining.

“There’s times when you’re driving on the interstate and there’s times when you’re driving in a school zone,” Gard said of Boyd’s pace. “We still have to work on — if there was a school zone, he would have got a speeding ticket a couple times tonight.”

As for Winter, he had to exit the game early after taking a hit to the nose. Perhaps that threw off the seven-footer, who struggled around the rim all night. Winter had his shot blocked four times and finished with 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Winter also had a chance to give Wisconsin a late lead, but couldn’t handle a pass by Boyd, which should have led to an easy dunk.

“He’s gotta finsih better,” said Gard. “He’s gotta play better, and he will.”

Lack of a Post Presence is Concerning

Wisconsin had 36 points in the paint. That’s pretty good considering the Badgers didn’t touch the post all night. Now, the Badgers can supplement that in different ways with their pick n’ roll game and high-low action, but you have to wonder how sustainable this offense is without anyone who can alleviate the pressure on the perimeter or just simply be able to switch things up offensively.

UW’s top three forwards took a combined 28 shots. 13 of those came from beyond the arc.

“There were times where we were not chemically balanced offensively tonight. Thought we dribbled too much. We didn’t move the ball enough times…I want them to shoot 3’s. We’re going to have to shoot 3’s. That’s how we’re built.”

Game Ball

Rapp hit a game-tying 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining. The Portland transfer also led the team with three 3-pointers on seven attempts. In a complete effort, Rapp added six rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

Big Picture

Wisconsin left a lot of points on the board, particularly in the first half when it looked like they’d take control early. The Badgers missed a total of 12 shots at the rim. Oklahoma did have eight blocks, but many of those were preventable. As mentioned, the 3-point shooting numbers will be better.

Oklahoma may also be a sleeper nationally. Per a source, the Sooners beat No. 10 Texas Tech in a scrimmage. Pretty much a brand new roster, OU had five players in double figures and weren’t all that reliant on star guard Nijel Pack until his dagger with five seconds remaining.

It’s an exhibition. It doesn’t count. But both teams were definitely trying to win this one and there was a lot of great back and forth.