Wisconsin (5-2) vs. Marquette (6-2)

Game: Saturday, Dec. 3 inside Fiserv Forum

Time: 3:30 P.M CT

Watch: FS1

Listen: 1310 WIBA AM and 101.5 FM (Matt Lepay and Mike Lucas on the call); stream online on iHeartRadio

Prediction: Marquette 79, Wisconsin 73,

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting Line: Marquette - 5.5

Coming off a stinging loss against Wake Forest, Wisconsin prepares to take on its longtime rival Marquette. The Badgers went neck and neck with Wake's fast-paced offense, but were doomed by a scoring drought over the last two and a half minutes in the game.

Wake Forest guard Tyree Appleby played out of his mind, dropping 32 points, including 4-of-6 from downtown, on elite efficiency. His ability to not only score the basketball but dish it to his teammates powered Wake's 78-point performance, the most Wisconsin has allowed all season.

The Badgers kept up with Appleby and the Demon Deacons largely off the back of Chucky Hepburn's shooting. The point guard had struggled scoring the basketball all year, but was coming off an uplifting 17-point performance against USC. Hepburn shot 6-of-12 from three point land Tuesday night, including a half-court heave at the first half buzzer. He wound up with 23 points when all was said and done, but it wasn't enough to get the win.

Marquette, on the other hand, is coming off a surprising shellacking of No.6 Baylor. They got off to a hot start and never looked back, leading by 26 after a first half that included an early 14-0 run. Forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper led them in scoring with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He's one of many scoring threats on the Golden Eagles.

Sophomore guard Kameron Jones is also a big problem. He's walking offensive production, and he plays with immense confidence — despite only shooting 32.8% from beyond the arc this season, he's shooting eight threes a game. Jones averages 14.1 points and is tied with Prosper as the Golden Eagles top scorer.

Wisconsin will need to play better defense than they did against the Demon Deacons, and they know it.

"No, not at all," Tyler Wahl responded when asked if he was satisfied with how Wisconsin defended Wake. "We had a lot of little things that added up, uncharacteristic, so we gotta figure that out if we want to be a good team and (get to) where we wanna go."

"Hopefully that was just a one time thing," he added. "I know the guys in this locker room are gonna attack practice this week, and hopefully we get back to the way we were playing defense before."

The Badgers will also need to work the post more if they want to beat Marquette. Wisconsin only scored 22 points in the paint against Wake Forest, and while Chucky Hepburn's brilliant shooting kept them afloat, it was a far from efficient offensive performance. The Badgers, like most teams, are at their best when they can play inside out and not rely on the long ball to compete.

Fiserv Forum will be the scene for the 129th meeting between these storied programs, and it should be packed and rowdy. Without the heroics of Johnny Davis to save them, like they had in this game a year ago, Wisconsin needs to buckle down, work the post and get back to lockdown defense.

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