The Wisconsin Badgers return home to the Kohl Center to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday. Tip-off is at 1:00 PM on Big Ten Network, and the Badgers are 14.5-point favorites.
Wisconsin earned its second-straight Big Ten road win last Tuesday at the buzzer in Minneapolis, defeating the rival Minnesota Golden Gophers, 78-75. John Blackwell was the hero of the game, scoring 27 points on 8-of-14 shots from the floor, with his final shot of the night the most significant.
What should Badger
fans know about Rutgers?
Opponent Preview
With freshmen phenoms Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper in the NBA, Steve Pikiell looks to find some consistency for the 9-8 Scarlet Knights. Rutgers enters this game dead last in the Big Ten on offense with 69.8 points per game. With the Scarlet Knights’ allowing 73.2 points per game on defense, their -3.4 point differential is the second-highest in the Big Ten behind Maryland.
Rutgers comes into this game with momentum of their own with a 77-75 comeback win over Northwestern in overtime last Sunday. The Scarlet Knights, down by 12 in the first half, were led by Tariq Francis’s 30 points, including seven straight in overtime. Francis, who started 10 games for the Scarlet Knights this season but now comes off the bench, leads Rutgers with 15.3 points per game.
In the backcourt for the Scarlet Knights are George Washington transfer Darren Buchanan Jr., returning starter Jamichael Davis, and true freshman Kaden Powers. Buchanan Jr. posted his first double-double of the season against Northwestern with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
Davis is the top assist man for the Scarlet Knights with 2.6 assists per game and averages 1.1 steals per game. He is also the team’s top three-pointer shooter among starters at 40.4 percent. Powers started the last three games for Rutgers and averages 5.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game on the season.
Forward Bryce Dortch and 6-foot-7 guard Harun Zrno, a name Badger fans might be familiar with from last offseason, got the start against Northwestern. However, center Emmanuel Ogbole leads the Scarlet Knights with 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Another forward to note is forward Dylan Grant, the Scarlet Knights’ second-leading scorer with 12.4 points and second-leading rebounder at 5.2 rebounds per game.
Score Prediction
Things are trending upward for Wisconsin, and now it gets to return home to face a team allowing teams to shoot 36.5 percent on average from behind the three-point line. Rutgers, which has won two of their last three games at the Kohl Center, is not a pushover, but the Badgers are clicking at the right time with Blackwell returning to All-Big Ten form.
Look for Wisconsin to take control of this game early and hold off Rutgers for its fourth straight win.
Prediction: Wisconsin 84-69
