The No. 5 seed Wisconsin Badgers are taking on the No. 12 seed Washington Huskies in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday, with tip-off set for 1:30 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network. The winner has a trip to the quarterfinals, where the No. 4 seed Illinois Fighting Illini await.
Wisconsin ended the regular season with a nice three-game win streak after its disappointing loss to the Oregon Ducks. They blew out the Huskies on the road and the Maryland Terrapins at home before the regular-season
finale against the Purdue Boilermakers at the Mackey Arena.
That game was a thriller, with the Badgers overcoming the loss of Nolan Winter to win 97-93, thanks to shooting 56 percent from the field and 53 percent from three. It was an all-around team effort, as Wisconsin saw its star guards, John Blackwell and Nick Boyd, combine for 48 points on just 26 shots. But big men Austin Rapp and Aleksas Bieliauskas also stepped up in Winter’s absence, combining for 33 points and eight threes.
Now, Wisconsin will try and continue their recent stretch of success in the Big Ten Tournament, where they’ve been prone to runs over the past two years. In both seasons, the Badgers were a No. 5 seed, playing on Thursday, and won three consecutive games to reach the Championship Game, where they ultimately lost.
Wisconsin is a No. 5 seed once again this year. Can they make some magic happen? To do so, they’ll need to knock off Washington again. The Huskies are coming off an overtime win over USC where they overcame a 13-point second half deficit to tie things in regulation before ultimately winning with five extra minutes.
One thing to monitor is fatigue. Washington saw three players play at least 42 minutes on Wednesday, with a fourth playing 39 minutes. With a seven-man rotation, the Huskies will be playing their starters heavy minutes once again.
Heading into the game, the Badgers are 6.5-point favorites, while the over/under is set at 156.5 points.
Can the Badgers get the job done? Join us as our game thread is officially open!
