The Wisconsin Badgers are back in action on Saturday, taking on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights as they ride a three-game win streak. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m. at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin is coming off a thrilling 78-75 buzzer-beating win over the Minnesota Gophers that saw them start slow, get ahead in the second half, and win on a John Blackwell three-pointer as time expired. That was a nice win to add on the road over a sneaky good Minnesota team that has made some noise in head coach Niko Medved’s first season.
Blackwell had 27 points, stacking back-to-back strong games after a rough performance against UCLA. Nolan Winter added a double-double as well, while Braeden Carrington showed out in his hometown against his former team with a career-high 21 points and seven threes.
Now, the Badgers face a Rutgers team that has scored the fewest points per game of any Big Ten team this season at 69.8 points per game. They’ve allowed more points (73.2 opponent points per game) than they’ve scored this season, and have gone 9-8 so far, including 2-4 in the Big Ten. After a rough lull earlier this season, they pulled off wins over Oregon and Northwestern over the last two weeks.
The Scarlet Knights don’t shoot the ball particularly well (40.4 percent from the field, 31.7 percent from three), and have two double-digit scorers (Tariq Francis, Dylan Grant).
Heading into the game, the Badgers are seen as 15.5-point favorites. After a couple of close contests, can they pull off a comfortable win on Saturday? Join us as our game thread is officially open!
