MBB Preview: UW opens BIG Ten play against OSU

MADISON - Back-to-back. For Wisconsin fans, Saturday's lineup doesn't get much better.

The Badgers (3-4) play host to the Ohio State Buckeyes (5-2) at the Kohl Center Saturday afternoon. Then, both football programs face off in the evening, this time in the 2017 BIG Ten Championship Game.

But first, basketball. Game information and team previews are below:

Game: Dec. 2, 2017 at the Kohl Center

Time: 4:00 p.m. CDT

Watch: FOX

Listen: BadgerSports Network (iHeartRadio)

Follow Online: The Badger's Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz, @McNamaraRivals, @JohnVeldhuis and @realJ_Mills

Buckeyes Pre-Game Notes:

After eight games, the Buckeyes thrive when junior forward Keita Bates-Diop comes to play. He kicked off OSU's season with three-consecutive double-doubles (vs. Robert Morris, Radford and Texas Southern). Currently, Bates-Diop is leading the team in minutes (av. 32.8/game), points (av. 17.4ppg), rebounds (av. 9.9 rpg) and blocks (av. 1.5 bpg).

Against Clemson, Bates-Diop recorded 21 points and seven rebounds, but acknowledges the Buckeyes are struggling to close out games.

"We’re all upset,” Bates-Diop said after OSU lost to Clemson on Nov. 29. “We had it again, just like the Butler game. We had the game.

“You can take losing if you play hard and the team just beats you. But we beat ourselves the last two games. You have to play hard and mentally tough for 40 minutes against good teams at this level.”

In total, the Buckeyes are averaging 76 points/game and their highest total (95 points) comes from the team's 95-64 victory against Robert Morris in early November. However, since that win, OSU has not scored above 83 points and failed to score above 70 points across their last two.

Their numbers are not terrible, though. A closer look reveals OSU shoots just under 46 percent from the field, 33 percent from three-point and 72 percent from the free throw line. Yet, against tougher defenses, OSU struggles heavily on offense.

One strong feature of this 2017 OSU basketball team has been defensive rebounding. The Buckeyes are second in the BIG Ten in defensive rebound percentage (77 percent) behind only Rutgers (78 percent). On the year, the team boasts 224 defensive rebounds and owns 318 total rebounds through eight games.

Against Wisconsin, the Buckeyes can win if they overpower UW's scoring defense. Ohio State is ninth in the conference in scoring defense (69.8 av./g) compared to the Badgers (616. av./g), but Wisconsin's scoring offense (69.6 av./g) ranks as the worst in the BIG Ten. As UW's numbers and recent struggles suggest, there is an opportunity for Ohio State to pull away late, but this could prove difficult at the Kohl Center.

Badgers Pre-Game Notes:

They never said winning would be easy.

Wisconsin is experiencing this firsthand in 2017 it boasts a 3-4 record entering Saturday's contest.

Despite the team's record, Badgers fans shouldn't panic just yet. Junior star Ethan Happ is doing his best to righten the ship and leads the team in points/game (av. 17.4), rebounds/game (av. 9.9) and blocks/game (av. 1.5).

Another bright spot on the Badgers is freshman guard Brad Davison (13.1ppg, 4.0 apg), but his shoulder troubles should be worth noting. His availability for Saturday will be a game-time decision and head coach Greg Gard should be hesitant to use the blossoming star until the medical staff is fully certain he is healthy.

The "freshman status" has been a crucial part of the Wisconsin Badgers team this year. The foursome of Davison, Kobe King, Aleem Ford and Nathan Reuvers recorded a combined 20.1 ppg stat-line and played in 42 percent of the minutes over the team's previous two games.

Despite their recent struggles, the Badgers are favored by 10.5 points against the Buckeyes on Saturday.

Coach's Corner

Ohio State: Head coach Chris Holtmann agreed to an eight-year contract with Ohio State, averaging $3 million annually, during the summer of 2017.

Wisconsin: Head coach Greg Gard Gard is just the third coach in the last 20 years to lead his team to the Sweet 16 in each of his first two seasons.