It’s a weird week of Big Ten hoops.
A few teams still have high-major games left to play while others are dashing for the cupcake buffet, their resume-building opportunities firmly in the rearview mirror. As we go further into the holiday season, there’s more and more days without basketball at all.
Thursday was one such day. Luckily for the fans of everyone’s favorite college basketball conference, Friday is NOT.
Here’s what to know about the three matchups we have on deck to close out the week:
Wisconsin Badgers vs Villanova Wildcats
- Tip time/TV channel: 8 p.m. ET on FOX
- KenPom spread: Badgers by 1
Greg
Gard clashes with an old Big Ten foe in Milwaukee.
Wisconsin is set for a matchup against Villanova at Fiserv Forum. The Wildcats are led by Kevin Willard, whose drawn-out, awkward exit from Maryland this past season created plenty of headlines before and during the Terrapins’ NCAA Tournament run.
The Badgers are having a weird year up to this point. Their statistical profile is mostly fine and the shot selection is what you’d expect from a modern offense but they’ve been blown off the floor by two teams in BYU and Nebraska. The Cougars have a potential No. 1 overall pick on the roster while the Huskers just shredded Wisconsin’s defense. If there’s been any sort of struggle, it’s come at times against the 3-point shot and facing longer defenses.
Villanova is just about at Wisconsin’s level albeit with a more efficient offense and a better-looking loss to BYU. The Wildcats got stomped by Michigan (but hey, who hasn’t) and likewise have a healthy stat profile.
If there’s something to watch for, Villanova shoots 3s pretty well and does so often. Wisconsin’s going to have to lock down the perimeter and take advantage of a home crowd if it wants to win this one.
Cal Poly Mustangs at UCLA Bruins
- Tip time/TV channel: 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PST on the Big Ten Network
- KenPom spread: Bruins by 22
UCLA has been rounding into form a bit after a rocky start to the season.
The Bruins opened up conference play at 2-0 after a clean sweep through the Pacific Northwest and are coming off of a high-major win over Arizona State. There’s probably still a level of concern about what this team ends up looking like relative to preseason expectations, but things are stable at the moment.
Ideally, Cal Poly doesn’t pose much of a challenge. The Mustangs are 5-7 and projected to finish below .500 in the Big West. They make more mistakes than anyone in the country offensively, with a non-steal turnover rate of a whopping 13.7%.
UCLA’s defense should feast.
Washington Huskies vs Seattle Redhawks
- Tip time/TV channel: 11:30 p.m. ET (uuugghhh)/8:30 p.m. PST on ESPN2/ESPN+ (wait, what)
- KenPom spread: Huskies by 4 (hrmmm)
Today I learned that Seattle isn’t named for the sea. The more you know. Anyway,
This could be a Weird one.
Washington sits at 7-3 with three pretty understandable losses to Baylor, Colorado and UCLA. Danny Sprinkle wasn’t gonna build this thing in a year or two, the Huskies are certainly better than they were last year but some question marks remain. The offense is pretty harsh to the eye, eschewing 3s for 2s with some midrange shots mixed in and struggles finishing around the rim.
Seattle has just two losses by a combined five points with the wrinkle that both are games the Redhawks probably should’ve won though they beat Stanford pretty soundly. They shoot the ball from deep better than the vast majority of D-I, but don’t shoot that often. They’re just great at getting the ball to go in the hoop with an eFG rate of 58.7% and a strong defense that drags opponents late in the shot clock.
Washington likes to go a bit faster on offense, so it can’t get dragged into that mud and has to keep Seattle from realizing it can win this at the perimeter.
On top of all that? This is at Climate Pledge Arena in downtown Seattle. Again, could get weird!
