MADISON – Wisconsin’s 92-71 win over No. 10 Michigan State left little ambiguity about the Badgers’ ability to compete in 2025-26 with some of the top programs in the Big Ten.
“We got beaten by a team I think is a little better than us,” Michigan State’s Tom Izzo said moments after becoming the third top-10 team to fall to Wisconsin in 2025-26. “But we got beaten by a team that played a lot better than us.”
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The Badgers usually have not played quite that much better than Izzo’s Spartans. The 21-point margin of victory was UW’s biggest against MSU in almost exactly 15 years. (UW had a 26-point win on Feb. 6, 2011.)
But the idea of Wisconsin sometimes being “a little better” than Michigan State is hardly novel. Greg Gard’s Badgers have won four of the last five against Izzo’s Spartans, and their last double-digit loss in the all-time series was in 2022. In the combined Bo Ryan/Greg Gard era, UW now has an even 24-24 record against the Spartans.
When looking at the Big Ten as a whole, Wisconsin’s 127-81 record in Big Ten games since 2015-16 – Gard’s first season as head coach – ranks third among the 14 teams that have been in the conference for that entire stretch, according to Sports Reference data analyzed by the Journal Sentinel on Feb. 15.
The only schools with higher Big Ten winning percentages during that span are Michigan State and Purdue. (Michigan is not far behind UW with a 125-81 record in that span.) Gard sees some common threads between Izzo’s Spartans, Matt Painter’s Boilermakers and his own Badgers.
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“All three of us understand what our universities and programs are about,” Gard said. “And the thing that I think has made all three consistently successful is you understand who you are, where you are, what works at where you are, what doesn’t work. And you stay true to that.”
Izzo, Painter and Gard represent three of the four longest-tenured coaches in the Big Ten. (Northwestern’s Chris Collins is the other one.) All three took over for highly respected coaches who had led their respective programs for more than a decade before that.
Izzo became head coach in 1995 after being Jud Heathcote’s top assistant. Painter took over for Gene Keady after a year as associate head coach (and head-coach-in-waiting). Gard moved over a seat on the UW bench during the 2015-16 season after spending the previous 15 seasons as Ryan’s top assistant in Madison.
When Gard was an assistant under Ryan, he studied what made Purdue, Michigan State and Ohio State consistent winners at the time. (That was during Thad Matta’s 13-year tenure in Columbus, which included nine NCAA tournament appearances.)
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“When you looked at what made those teams and programs consistent from year in and year out, I think a lot of it’s to do with you know who you are and you stay true to who you are, even when the outside world is clamoring for change and radical shifts,” Gard said.
The consistency and sustainability that teams strive for do not happen, as Gard sees it, by “constantly chasing the next thing and completely ditching what you do.”
“You have what you believe in on and off the court,” Gard said. “And instead of making radical, wholesale changes and throwing everything out the window, you get better at what you believe in.”
Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard is shown during the first half of their game against the Michigan State Friday, February 13, 2026 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin, of course, has adapted in the Gard era.
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The transfer portal has been an obvious area of adaptation. Four of the seven UW players with 15-plus minutes against Michigan State were transfers. (Three of the four already transferred once before joining the Badgers for 2025-26.)
The offense has dramatically picked up the pace, too, while becoming one of the most efficient offenses in the country. KenPom has ranked UW’s offenses 17th in 2023-24, 13th in 2024-25 and 18th so far in 2025-26 in adjusted efficiency.
“Everybody talks about the offensive stuff, but the core values of the program have stayed the same,” Gard said. “And I think the same thing for [Izzo] at Michigan State. He stayed consistent and true to what he believes in and what he feels works there the best.”
The respect clearly is mutual among the longtime Big Ten coaches. Gard, Izzo said, “lost a couple tough games early, but he’s been as consistent and steady as anybody.”
Michigan State’s head coach Tom Izzo, right, shakes hands with Wisconsin’s head coach Greg Gard before the game during on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Izzo’s advice to Wisconsin fans: “appreciate him.”
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“Sometimes I, in the league, get more credit,” Izzo said. “Sometimes Paint does. I don’t think Greg gets enough credit for what he’s done.”
The Badgers’ 92-71 win over Izzo’s Spartans – Gard’s 18th top-10 win, which tied Ryan for the most in program history – may be Exhibit A for that.
“He’s adjusted a little bit, he’s tried some different things and he did a hell of a job tonight,” Izzo said. “They outplayed us in every aspect of the game.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin’s top-10 wins offer reminder of Greg Gard’s winning formula
