Wisconsin star guard John Blackwell made headlines this week with two strong performances against Northwestern and Marquette, eventually earning Big Ten Player of the Week honors.

Blackwell averaged 28.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game during those two contests, leading the Badgers to statement wins, one in their conference opener and the other against their biggest rival.

The guard's biggest jump from last season is his ability to shoot the three. He was a very good shooter as a freshman, albeit with a smaller sample size, connecting on 45.5% of his looks from deep. That percentage then dropped to 32.2% last season. After declaring for the NBA Draft this past spring, it's clear that shooting was an area that scouts told him to work on. Blackwell is shooting 43.3% from beyond the arc this season, operating as the Badgers' top shooting threat. Not only is he making more threes percentage-wise, but he is also taking 2.5 more threes per game this year compared to last.

Blackwell earned preseason All-Big Ten honors and has lived up to those expectations in the Badgers' first nine games.

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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin basketball John Blackwell Big Ten Player of the Week award