Dominating the Rivalry: Wisconsin Basketball vs. Minnesota

The hiring of then-Milwaukee head coach Bo Ryan yielded little fanfare outside the city of Madison.

Other than an improbable run to the Final Four in 2000, there had been few bright spots since the Badgers hung their 1947 Big Ten championship banner. Not only were there no Big Ten titles over that 54-year stretch, but Wisconsin also had four times as many losing seasons (32) as top-four finishes in the league (eight). There were just four NCAA tournament appearances, including 47 straight seasons without one.

So, when Dick Bennett abruptly retired in November 2000, he took with him some of the excitement as the Badgers stumbled to a 13-loss season and a first-round upset. Ryan and associate head coach Greg Gard didn’t wait long to change the culture.

Winning back-to-back Big Ten titles in their first two seasons, the Badgers have been dominant in winning 71.1 percent of its games during Ryan’s 14 seasons as head coach and in the last six-plus seasons under Gard (504-205 through Feb.20). UW has won eight Big Ten titles, appeared in 18 of the last 19 NCAA tournaments, and advanced to two Final Fours.

Since Ryan and Gard arrived, Wisconsin has the most Big Ten wins and the best winning percentage in the conference at 253-117 (.684) and has flipped many conference rivalries that had long been one-sided affairs.

Over the course of this Big Ten season, BadgerBlitz will examine Wisconsin’s series with the 13 other conference teams, what it was before Ryan and Gard arrived, what the series looks like now, and some memorable moments along the way.

Today, we look at Wisconsin’s series with Minnesota.

RELATED: Iowa | Maryland | Ohio State | Northwestern | Michigan State | Nebraska | Illinois | Penn State | Rutgers | Indiana | Michigan |

Pre 2001-02: Minnesota led 105-77

Since 2001-02: Wisconsin leads 28-8

Ryan’s Record vs. Minnesota: 20-6 (7-5 in Minneapolis, 2-0 neutral)

Gard’s Record vs. Minnesota: 8-2 (3-1 in Minneapolis, 0-0 neutral)

Record when both teams were ranked: Ryan 0-0; Gard 1-0

When Wisconsin was ranked, Minnesota was not: Ryan 13-4, Gard 4-1

When Minnesota was ranked, Wisconsin was not: Ryan 0-0, Gard 0-0

When both teams were unranked: Ryan 5-1, Gard 3-1

Much like the rich history of the football rivalry, the matchup with Minnesota is Wisconsin’s basketball oldest one that dates to 1900. Six of the first seven meetings were in Minneapolis (all wins) but Wisconsin took control of the series once the home-and-home rotation started with 16 wins in 19 games.

The series was competitive throughout the 20s, 30s, 40s and early 50s (neither school winning more than four in a row) but started tipping for the Gophers in the late 50s. From 1956 until 1985, Minnesota went 39-11 (78.0 percent) which included a 17-game win streak from 1971-85 after the Badgers strung together seven wins in a row.

After UW ended the skid in February 1985, the series returned to a more competitive balance. While the Gophers held a 16-15 edge entering the 2002 season, the Badgers had the biggest win when they knocked off the second-ranked Gophers, 66-65, in the 1997 season finale.

It was the first time the Badgers had beaten an AP Top 2 team since 1962 and likely helped Wisconsin earn its first NCAA tournament berth under head coach Dick Bennett.

Under Ryan: Winning his first border-battle game was nice, but Ryan’s Badgers erasing a 13-point deficit in Minneapolis to pull out a 67-62 victory was the boost that pushed the program to their first Big Ten title since 1947. It also set the tone for the series for the next two-plus decades.

Ryan’s Badgers won his first six meetings against the Gophers and 12 of the first 13, eight of which were by at least nine points. Wisconsin was 11-1 at home against Minnesota, the loss coming in overtime in 2009. The Gophers were ranked No.18 in that victory but Minnesota’s next two ranked teams to come into the Kohl Center – No.14 in Dec. 2010 and No.12 in Jan.2013 – loss to unranked UW squads.

Wisconsin lost a couple tough games at Williams Arena in 2013 and 2014, the first in overtime and the second when the ninth-ranked Badgers gave up an un-Wisconsin-like 81 points (most to U-M since ’94). However, Ryan’s four-game win streak to end his tenure finished with a 76-63 victory in Minneapolis that clinched the outright conference title for the program.

Under Gard: Gard’s responsibility throughout his associate head coach tenure was to recruit the state of Minnesota, and he has appeared right at home coaching against the Gophers. He won his first four games against the program, including the first two in Minneapolis and two in overtime. After splitting the series in 2019 and 2020, the sixth-ranked Badgers beat the 21st ranked Gophers on New Year’s Eve last season. It marked the first time both programs were ranked at the time of the matchup since 1999.

With the Gophers guaranteed a fifth straight losing season, Wisconsin has finished above Minnesota in the final Big Ten standings for 24 consecutive seasons.

Overall, Ryan/Gard went 8-1 against Dan Monson, 2-0 against Jim Molinari, 6-4 against Tubby Smith, and 11-3 against Richard Pitino.

Assistant coach Gary Close on how Wisconsin’s domination over the Gophers, including going 10-6 in Minneapolis since 2002, has impacted the program’s ability to recruit talented players from Minnesota, including Jared Berggren, Mike Bruesewitz, Jordan Taylor, Kammron Taylor, and others.

“I think it certainly helped, but I think it was the overall body of work. What we were doing in the league, what we were doing in the tournament was more consistent and at a higher level than what Minnesota was. I think the other thing is the kids came down here and they liked it. It was a very attractive other option and the consistent success we were having was a big reason why. If you can go up there and win some games, that certainly helps. If we went up there and won a few games but were still inconsistent in the league and not doing very well in the tournament, I don’t think it would have had much effect.”

Splitting its first 10 conference games in Ryan’s first season, Wisconsin started to surge in early February. Defending the home court with an overtime win over No.16 Ohio State and a 29-point win over Northwestern, the Badgers took advantage of Indiana not having leading scorer Jared Jeffries to snap a 22-game road losing streak in Bloomington with a 64-63 victory.

As big as that win was, the Badgers storming back from 13 points down in the second half for a 67-62 victory at Williams Arena was arguably bigger.

“[Against Indiana] last Wednesday, we were hanging on with just our fingers,” Ryan said. “Tonight, we were clawing at something else.”

What the Badgers were clawing at was a 47-34 deficit with 13:09 remaining in the game, blitzed by a 26-4 run between the first and second halves. As UW often does, the Badgers figured things out defensively. Minnesota proceeded to follow its run with a five-and-a-half-minute stretch with no points, and the Badgers engineered a 21-7 run over the final five minutes to close the game.

Kirk Penney scored 28 of his 30 points in the second half to end the Golden Gophers' eight-game home winning streak, going 9-for-13 from the field and adding five rebounds.

“They were relentless and kept digging and digging,” Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. “We had no answer for Penny. He kept them in the game and got them the win. We struggled to get stops; we held them most of the game, but they scored in their last 8-10 possessions. We had no stops at the end of the game.”

UW returned home and won its final two games (Iowa, Michigan) to close the season on a six-game win streak and earned a share of the Big Ten title.

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @JakeKoco, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45

*Like us on Facebook