No.17 Wisconsin (16-5, 6-4 Big Ten) vs. Northwestern (12-9, 3-7 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Saturday, February 1, 1 p.m.

Arena – Welsh-Ryan Arena (17,950)

Watch – FS1 (Chris Vosters and Stephen Bardo)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius 106 or 195, stream online on iHeartRadio.

Series – Wisconsin leads 124-67 (Wisconsin leads 44-40 in Evanston, Ill.)

Last Meeting - Wisconsin won, 70-61, on March 15, 2024, in Minneapolis

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin – 1.5

Player to Watch: Tonje led all scorers with 23 points (5-8 3FGs) at Maryland Wednesday, his seventh game with 20+ points this season. He also grabbed six rebounds.

Player to watch: Barnhizer, who has posted 19 double-doubles over the last two seasons, the most by a Big Ten guard, is eighth in the Big Ten in scoring, fourth in rebounds, 10th in assists, second in steals (2.3) and 14th in blocks (1.1) per game.

The Badgers have won the last two meetings with Northwestern and 24 of the last 31 dating back to 2007.

Under head coach Greg Gard, Wisconsin owns a 10-5 record against the Wildcats, including 4-2 in games played at Northwestern.

Northwestern has reached 70 points just once in its last 48 meetings with Wisconsin (UW's 82-76 win at NU in 2022). That stretch of defensive efforts dates to 1997.

Despite sharing a border with fertile recruiting grounds, Wisconsin has only one Illinois native on its roster (Schaumburg’s Chris Hodges) while the Wildcats have no Illinois natives..

Wisconsin has won 10+ Big Ten games in 20 of the last 23 seasons. No other team can make that claim.

Including a Kohl-Center record 116 points vs. Iowa (1/3), Wisconsin has reached 80 points in 13 of 20 games, most since 1970-71 season (13 times).

The Badgers are 9-5 against the top two quadrants of the NET rankings, including five Quad 1 wins and zero losses outside of Quad 1. Only Auburn (12), Oregon (8), Kentucky (7), Alabama (6), Iowa State (6), Purdue (6), and Texas A&M (6) have more Quad-1 wins than Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has outscored its opponents, 368-to-272, at the free throw line. UW has made nearly as many free throws (368) as its opponents have attempted (376).

Dating back to last season, Wisconsin is 28-1 in games when holding foes to 70 or fewer points (11-1 this year).

Northwestern has scored 70+ points in five straight Big Ten games for the first time since Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 1990.

The Wildcats are averaging 10.0 turnovers lost per game, the fewest in the Big Ten and the 24th fewest nationally.

Northwestern also places third in the conference, averaging 7.9 steals per game.

Northwestern's defense has allowed an average of 69.4 points per game, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten. According to KenPom, Northwestern's defense ranks 43rd nationally in adjusted efficiency and 48th in turnover percentage.

Head coach Chris Collins has won 17 games against ranked opponents in his career, the most by any head coach in program history. He last defeated a ranked opponent on Dec. 6, 2024 with a 70-66 triumph over No. 19 Illinois inside Welsh-Ryan Arena. Northwestern has won a game over an AP Top 20 team for a program-best sixth straight season and won seven of its last nine overall against AP Top 20 teams.

Wisconsin's starting five are all averaging at least 10 points per game. UW has not had five players average double figures since the 2002-03 Big Ten title team. The depth of the Badgers goes beyond that, all the way to an integral reserve having a career season.

A favorite fan punching bag throughout his tenure, Carter Gilmore has always been a reliable defensive option off the bench for Wisconsin. However, the graduate senior has added an offensive pop to his game. His 2.9 points per game may not seem like much, but they represent a career-high, as does his 36.0 three-point shooting percentage.

“It’s five years of putting all this together,” Gard said. “It’s a great example of why from a coaching standpoint you continue to work with people and not give up on them, or think it’s going to be an instantaneous product right out of the gate. He’s really confident. He’s really embraced his role and he’s playing in his role really, really well.”

Gilmore’s role is defense, and he’s versatile enough to defend multiple positions. That value will likely be worth more to Wisconsin than his offense this afternoon against multiple Northwestern weapons.

Martinelli and Barnhizer are one of two sets of Power Conference teammates in the country averaging 17+ points per game. Martinelli ranks 18th nationally in scoring and fourth among high-major forwards. In his last outing against Rutgers, he posted his third double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. His 10 games of 20+ points this season are the most by a Northwestern forward since John Shurna recorded 18 such games in 2011-12.

Barnhizer flirted with a double-double on Wednesday night, logging 10 points, nine rebounds, and a team-high six assists, but has eight double-doubles in his past 13 games.

UW also has to worry about Leach, who has scored 15+ points in five of his last six games and is shooting a team-best 47.6 percent from the field in conference play.

Gilmore is typically the first reserve off the bench with senior Kamari McGee and has the versatility to guard any of the three players.

“He anchors us really on both ends of the floor but defensively what he does, he’s physical,” Gard said. “He rebounds. He’s in the right position. He communicates. He's vocal out there. Having him with confidence offensively that he does …

“I’m happy for him. Him and Kam McGee have done it the hard way. The long way. It hasn’t happened over night. It hasn’t been easy. They’ve both have been very consistent and persistent with their work and their commitment to it. And I’m glad to see it’s paying off.”

Northwestern has the sixth-best scoring defense in the league but the sixth-worst field goal percentage defense, a product of playing the 304th-slowest tempo in the country. Rutgers – the fifth-worst field goal percentage offense in the league – shot 57.1 percent on Wednesday.

Wisconsin should be able to score on and defend Northwestern to get an important road victory.

Worgull’s Prediction: Wisconsin by 11

Record: 17-4 (16-5 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 171 (8.1 per game)

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