No.12 Wisconsin (22-7, 12-6 Big Ten) vs. Minnesota (15-14, 7-11 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Wednesday, March 5, 7:30 p.m.

Arena – Williams Arena (14,625)

Watch – Big Ten Network (Cory Provos and Robbie Hummel)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius 83, stream online on iHeartRadio.

Series – Wisconsin leads 109-104 (Minnesota leads 70-38 in Minneapolis)

Last Meeting - Wisconsin won, 80-59, on January 10, 2025, in Madison

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin -7.5

Player to Watch: Coming off a 12-point, 17-rebound performance at Michigan State, Winter has made one of the biggest jumps in the Big Ten averaging 9.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg and shooting a team-high 56.1 percent FGs, including 36.7 percent from deep.

Player to watch: Reserve guard Brennan Rigsby scored a career-high 20 points in the Nebraska win, including a career-high five three-pointers. He went 7-for-8 and 5-for-6 from three-point range.

UW has won eight straight against Minnesota and 17 of the last 19 meetings.

UW has won 17 in a row when scoring at least 55 points vs. Minnesota. The Gophers have topped 70 points in just 1 of the last 19 meetings (78-76 UW overtime win in 2017).

The first 99 years of the rivalry may have belonged to Minnesota, but it has flipped dramatically since the turn of the century: 1900-1998: UW was 72-95 (43.1 percent). 1999-present: UW is 37-9 (80.4 percent).

Wisconsin is 13-2 overall against Minnesota under head coach Greg Gard.

The Badgers have won three straight and seven of the last eight at Williams Arena dating back to 2015.

UW's roster features five players from Minnesota: Crowl (Eagan), Winter (Lakeville), redshirt freshman Jack Janicki and true freshmen Daniel Freitag (Bloomington) and Jack Robison (Lakeville).

The Badgers are 14-7 against the top 2 quadrants of the NET rankings, including seven Quad 1 wins and just one loss outside the first Quadrant. UW is 1 of 11 schools with 14+ Quad 1/2 wins.

Wisconsin is 8-5 away from home, including a mark of 5-5 in true road games.

The Badgers are closing in on the program record for most 3FGs in a single season as the 2013-14 holds the record of 297 and this year's team already has 289.

Ranking among the top-8 on KenPom's National Player of the Year rankings, Tonje ranks second in the Big Ten averaging 2.6 3FGs/game and ranks 9th in 3FG Pct (40.2%) during conference play.

Crowl is the eighth Badger all-time to play in 100 wins. He is also one of just 11 Big Ten players in the last 40 years to tally at least 1,400 points, 800 boards, and 250 assists.

Minnesota has 10 seniors on its team this year, which is tied for the most in the Big Ten along with Southern California. The Gophers hold an average team age of 22.3. The breakdown of the season is 10 seniors, one junior, three sophomores and two freshmen.

Minnesota ranks first in the Big Ten blocks, averaging 4.8 and that ranks 27th nationally.

Minnesota ranks seventh in the Big Ten in assist/turnover ratio (1.43).

Garcia holds a league-best 17 20-point game performances on the season. That ranks fourth in school history. Garcia has had 24 double-digit point games and three 30-point games. He’s averaging 19.3 points this year, which ranks fifth in the Big Ten.

Patterson ranks 26th nationally and fourth in the Big Ten in assist/turnover ratio (2.77). Patterson has 35 turnovers with 97 assists this season.

Wisconsin can be slotted three through number eight in next week’s Big Ten Tournament and doesn’t control its path to a double bye in the conference tournament. However, the Badgers can put themselves in a prime position to get an extra day off if they push their winning streak against Minnesota to nine.

There’s no question the Badgers must shoot better from the perimeter, as Wisconsin is 22-for-90 (24.4 percent) from the perimeter in the last three games. However, the Badgers committed 26 turnovers in their two recent losses and only five in the win sandwiched between them. UW also needs to be more consistent in playing through the paint, especially when the three-point shot has been fickle.

The Gophers are the lowest-scoring team in the Big Ten (68.28 ppg) and haven’t broken 70 in the last five games. On that stretch, however, Minnesota won at UCLA and Nebraska and has 10 seniors who would love to end their home career with a win over Wisconsin.

If the Badgers play their brand of sound, fundamental basketball, UW should escape with a hard-fought win.

Worgull’s Prediction: Wisconsin by 7

Record: 23-6 (22-7 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 236 (8.1 per game)

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