Chicago State (0-8, 0-0 NEC) vs. No.15 Wisconsin (7-0, 0-0 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Saturday, November 30, 12 p.m. CT

Arena – Kohl Center (16,838)

Watch – Peacock (Kevin Lee and Stephen Bardo)

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

Series – Wisconsin leads 4-0 (Wisconsin leads 4-0 in Madison)

Last Meeting - Wisconsin won, 80-53, on December 22, 2023, in Madison

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Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin -33.5

Player to Watch: Tonje scored 33 points in the Greenbrier Tip-Off title game - his second game with 30+ points this season - and was named the tournament's most valuable player. Ranked ninth in the NCAA in scoring, Tonje is shooting 54.3 percent from the field, 40.6 percent from three, and 95.2 percent from the foul line.

Player to watch: Junior guard Jalen Forest was Chicago State's best weapon off the bench in the Sunshine Slam. Coming off the bench in both games, Forest scored 12 points (5-for-12) against Radford and had 14 (5-for-8) against Drexel. He leads the team in scoring at 9.5 points per game.

Wisconsin has hosted Chicago State four times in the Greg Gard era (2016, 2017, 2023). Badgers have won those games by an average of 19 points.

Chicago State joined the Northeast Conference after spending last season as an independent. The Badgers are 7-0 against teams from the NEC. UW hasn't played a team from the conference since 2021, beating St. Francis Brooklyn.

Chicago State is 1-64 all-time against Big Ten schools. The lone win came last season at No.25 Northwestern.

With wins over Pitt (No. 18) and Arizona (No. 24), Wisconsin was the nation's first team to record two wins over teams ranked in the Ken Pom Top-25.

Gard coached his 300th career game on Sunday, the 4th-most games of any coach in program history. Gard improved his overall record to 193-107 (.643). The Badgers are now 77-22 (.766) in regular season, non-conference games under Gard.

From beyond the arc, Wisconsin is taking (25.6 3FGA) and making (9.3 3FG) more 3-pointers than ever before. It's the highest average in both categories since the inception of the 3-point line in 1986-87.

Wisconsin has scored at least 79 points in the season's first seven games, marking the longest streak in program history.

Wisconsin is making an average of 21.0 FTs per game, ranking 12th in the NCAA. UW is averaging 24.3 free throw attempts per game this season, ranking in the top 65 in the NCAA. The Badgers averaged 19.4 attempts per game at the line last season.

The Cougars are averaging 59.1 points per game, shooting 34.4 percent from the floor and 29.7 percent from the three-point line. Those numbers rank 348th, 354th, and 301st nationally.

Chicago State has had one winning season in the past 38 years (2009). CSU has had only three since moving up to Division I in 1984.

The Cougars' 13 wins last season were their most since the 2013-14 season. The program advanced to the quarterfinals of the CBI, its first postseason appearance since that season.

After Gerald Gillion left to take the head coaching job at Long Island, CSU elevated assistant Scott Spinelli to the head coaching position.

After a four-game stretch that saw Wisconsin play three Power-Four conference schools and a difficult match-up against UTRGV, the Badgers should be getting a break in competition before starting up another challenging stretch (the beginning of Big Ten play, at Marquette, vs. Butler).

Chicago State is in the conversation for the worst Division-1 school in college basketball through the season's first month. The Cougars are ranked 361st (out of 364 schools) by kenpom.com, with an offense that also ranks 361st and a defense slightly better at 339th. The Cougars lost by 36 at Indiana State, 45 at San Francisco, and 47 at Texas in their three true road games, leading to an average margin of defeat of 25.3.

It'll be a huge shock if Wisconsin doesn't win this comfortably.

Worgull’s Prediction: Wisconsin by 33.

Record: 5-2 (5-2 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 68 (9.7 per game)

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