The Wisconsin Badgers conclude the regular season with a trip to Mackey Arena to take on the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday. Tip-off is at 3:00 P.M. CT on CBS, and the Boilermakers are 7.5-point favorites.
Wisconsin sent its seniors out the right way with a dominant 78-45 win over the Maryland Terrapins last Wednesday. Braeden Carrington led all scorers with 18 points off the bench, while John Blackwell provided 14 points. The big question mark coming into this next game will be the status of Nolan
Winter, who went down with a lower-body injury in the second half of Wednesday’s game. His status for the game is undetermined.
What has happened to the Purdue Boilermakers since the last time Wisconsin saw them in the Kohl Center?
Opponent Preview
In our last meeting with Matt Painter’s squad back on January 3rd, the fifth-ranked Boilermakers took a close game with the Badgers in the first half into a second-half rout, winning 89-73. Purdue, which led 45-38 at halftime, found itself up by as many as 25 points with under nine minutes left in the game.
Since that win, the Boilermakers are ranked 15th in the AP Poll, having gone 10-6 since January 3rd, with upset losses to Indiana and Ohio State on the road. Last Wednesday, Purdue survived an upset scare by holding off the Northwestern Wildcats 70-66 at Welsh Ryan Arena. C.J. Cox was tremendous against the Wildcats with a career-high 27 points.
Braden Smith continues to be the engine for the Purdue Boilermakers, averaging 14.7 points and 8.7 assists per game. Smith, the Big Ten’s all-time leader in career assists, is now chasing Bobby Hurley’s NCAA record of 1,076 career assists. Should the Boilermakers make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, Smith should be able to break that record.
Purdue sharpshooter Fletcher Loyer is also close to breaking some records. The senior shooting guard, who is shooting at 40.7 percent from long distance, is five three-pointers shy of surpassing former Boilermaker great (and noted thorn in the Badgers’ side) Carsen Edwards’ 281 three-point shots.
Finally, in the frontcourt, is Trey Kaufman-Renn, the Boilermakers’ leading rebounder at 8.9 rebounds per game. While his scoring has fallen from 20.1 points last season to 13.3 points per game, he has averaged 16.5 points in Purdue’s last six games.
Score Prediction
The Badgers have a rare opportunity to pick up back-to-back wins at Mackey Arena for the first time since 2012-2014. However, with Nolan Winter’s potential absence threatening to weaken Wisconsin’s depth in the post, gaining a win in West Lafayette will be an enormous challenge. Couple that with Senior Day for Smith, Loyer, and Kaufman-Renn, and this spells like a long afternoon for Wisconsin.
Prediction: Purdue 82-72
