Nolan Winter was in clear pain, holding his ankle and rolling around on the floor. He eventually had to check out and never returned to the game. Wisconsin fans, teammates, and coaches had their stomachs drop. Now is not the time to lose one of your most important players, ahead of a big push to the end of the season and into the NCAA Tournament. The depth behind Nolan Winter is a pretty severe dropoff.
However, after the game, both head coach Greg Gard and John Blackwell were very optimistic about Nolan Winter's injury. Gard said that early indications are that Winter dodged the worst; however, there would be more testing done on Thursday.
John Blackwell on Nolan Winter’s injury:#Badgers pic.twitter.com/I3nndMF6o1
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) March 5, 2026
Nolan Winter left the Maryland game unable to put weight on his ankle and didn't return
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John Blackwell was also asked about it, and while he's a teammate and not a coach, he will know less of the medical information, he still had a positive spin. He said that Wisconsin operates with a next man up mentality. Hayden Jones is filling in great for Jack Janicki, and when other players have missed games, the next man stepped up and filled in.
Then he shared the optimistic part, "Nolan is a fighter, if Nolan has the go to play, he's playing. Whether that's on one leg or two legs, he's playing. We are going to keep battling for Nolan like he battles for us."
While this doesn't give much indication into his injury, Blackwell believes that if Winter can go, he will, even if it's not 100%. That's how Winter functions and will fight to get back on the court.
The next game would be a doozy for Winter to miss, as it's a rematch game against No. 15 Purdue in a game that may determine Big Ten Tournament seeding and even have implications for NCAA Tournament seeding. That game is on Saturday, March 7th, at 3 pm in Mackey Arena and will air on CBS.