Indiana (14-8, 5-6 Big Ten) vs. No.17 Wisconsin (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Tuesday, February 4, 8 p.m.

Arena – Kohl Center (16,838)

Watch – Peacock (Noah Eagle and Robbie Hummel)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius 85 or 390, stream online on iHeartRadio.

Series – Indiana leads 99-80 (Wisconsin leads 47-40 in Madison)

Last Meeting - Indiana won, 74-70, on February 27, 2024, in Bloomington, Ind.

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin – 9.5

Player to Watch: Tonje finished with 27 points on 8-for-18 shooting from the field and a 5-for-11 clip from distance in Wisconsin’s Saturday win at Northwestern. He was a perfect 6-for-6 at the stripe. Tonje has scored at least 20 points for four straight games and eight times this season.

Player to watch: Mgbako has scored at least 15 points in each of his last three starts with 20 points at Northwestern (Jan. 22), 16 points against Maryland (Jan. 26), and 25 points at No. 10/10 Purdue (Jan. 31). He has scored at least 20 points in four of his last eight Big Ten Conference road games dating back to last season.

UW has won 25 of the last 30 matchups with Indiana, including 11 of the last 14.

The Badgers have won 20 straight home games against Indiana, the longest-ever home winning streak against the Hoosiers. UW home win streak vs. IU dates to a 56-53 win on March 5, 2000, in Bob Knight's final Big Ten game. The Hoosiers’ last win in Madison came in the inaugural season of the Kohl Center (1/25/98).

UW's 20 straight wins vs. IU are the school’s second-longest streak vs. a Big Ten team, trailing it’s active 22-game home streak vs. Penn State. Wisconsin's win streaks over Penn State (22) and Indiana (20) are the two longest active win streaks of any Big Ten team.

During Wisconsin's 20-game home win streak over Indiana, the Badgers have won by an average of 72.2 to 60.2. The Hoosiers have been held to 60 or fewer in 13 of the 20 games and never reached 80 points. Conversely, the Badgers have been held to 60 points or fewer just three times over that stretch and reached 80 a total of seven times.

Greg Gard is 11-4 in his career against Indiana.

Crowl has appeared in 138 games in his UW career -- tied for 8th on the school's all-time list. Wisconsin is 47-16 (.746) when Crowl scores in double figures, including 7-2 this season.

Gard's 60.0 percent conference win percentage ranks eighth-best among Big Ten coaches of the last 45 years.

Klesmit leads the team with 59 assists (2.9 apg) and maintains a 2.27 assist-to-turnover ratio (59 ast, 26 TO), the second-best mark on the team. The senior guard is shooting 84.7% (50-for-59) at the free throw line (ranks 13th in the Big Ten - min. 50 FTAs).

Kamari McGee averages 22.2 minutes per game off the bench, averaging a UW career best 7.2 points and 2.0 assists per game. McGee has scored double figures in four of the last eight games.

Winter leads UW and ranks fifth in the Big Ten shooting 59.0% from the field (min. 4.0 FGs per game). He also leads Big Ten shooting 70.9% (61-86) on 2-point FGs.

Ballo has posted six double-doubles across his last nine contests. During that stretch, he has averaged 17.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.

Since Dec. 29 (Goode’s first appearance in the starting lineup) no B1G player has made more 3-pointers than Goode. He is tied for 12th (26 makes) among all major conference players over the last month.

Galloway is one of four B1G players (Brock Harding, Iowa; Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Maryland; Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State) to average at least 4.0 assists while shooting 35.0 percent from the 3-point line while playing under 30.0 minutes per game.

Reneau missed five games (at Penn State, Jan. 5; vs. USC, Jan. 8; at Iowa, Jan. 11; vs. Illinois, Jan. 14; at Ohio State, Jan. 17) with a lower body injury. He returned to the lineup in a bench role at Northwestern (Jan. 22). He started and played eight minutes at Purdue, registering three points, three turnovers, and five fouls.

Although held scoreless on four shots in 20 minutes, Rice has shot 43.6 percent (89-of-204) from the floor and 89.2 percent (58-of65) from the free throw line this season.

Blackwell is emerging as one of the Big Ten's most well-rounded players, ranking second on the Badgers in points, third in assists, and fourth in rebounds. Those averages rise to 16.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 2.0 apg during Big Ten play. He’s impactful … when he plays.

Blackwell has found himself on the bench for long stretches of the first half in last Wednesday’s loss at Maryland and again in Saturday’s win at Northwestern. Of the 40 minutes available, Blackwell made himself unavailable for 19 minutes and 23 seconds because of silly fouls.

Case and point: Blackwell made a turnover that caused the ball to roll slowly toward Northwestern’s basket. Instead of picking it up and chancing a backcourt violation, Blackwell let it roll. The Wildcats eventually got possession, got the ball into the hands of leading scorer Nick Martinelli, and drove at Blackwell in the low block as the Wisconsin guard was looking for a charge call.

Blackwell got whistled for the block and watched UW’s offense struggle from the bench with his fouls. It was a teachable moment for Blackwell from Gard to not commit “silly fouls” to take himself off the floor.

“Go get that ball,” Gard said Monday. “Don’t let a ball roll whether you think you touched it last or not and it was going to be over and back or not. The longer you let it roll, the worse things can get, as we saw … Never leave it for chance.”

Blackwell also has been whistled for offensive fouls via pushing off, which Gard and the staff have addressed and tried to correct. UW survived without a big game from Blackwell (5 points, 2-for-8) partly because the Badgers’ reserves brought some energy at the end of the first half to start getting the roster out of their funk.

It’s different than how things looked a year ago, as the Badgers are more mature, have pieces that fit their offense, and have players who are sharper with how the staff wants them to play

“We’re so different than how we were a year ago, just personnel and how we play,” Gard said. “They obviously are different with different pieces on the floor, and most teams are in today’s world. You don’t draw a lot, probably less than ever from previous year’s tape. I watched some of us from last year and makes me want to get near a garbage can.”

Gard wasn't referencing any game in particular but Wisconsin’s February road loss at Indiana wasn't pretty. The Hoosiers shot 61.7 percent and easily cut through UW’s post defense. One of the biggest weapons on that night – Kel’el Ware – is gone to the pros, but Ballo transferred in to replace him, and he had his way with UW last year at Arizona (15 pts, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks).

Gard liked to use one of his favorite adjectives when describing Ballo as a “handful," especially since he's one of six Division-1 men’s players to average a double-double and 1.5 blocks per night (and the only one to do it shooting better than 60 percent). Ballo and Mgbako will be busy, while how much Reneau provides is still unknown, and the low post can get touches because seniors Luke Goode (42.0 3FG) and Galloway (35.5 3FG) can shoot from the perimeter. That duo outscored the Boilermakers’ reserves, 28-14.

While Indiana has a lot of good individual scorers, the problem is that the Hoosiers aren’t a well-functioning team. The Hoosiers commit turnovers (13.6 per game, 20 vs. Purdue), are substandard from the line (71.8 percent), and have blown opportunities late in the last two games by making communication and fundamental mistakes in crunch

Losing five of six (with the only win being an overtime one-point win over Ohio State), it appears Mike Woodson is headed out the door sooner rather than later. After putting everything into a rivalry game, only to come up short, does Indiana have a lot left in the tank?

Not in Madison they don’t.

Worgull’s Prediction: Wisconsin by 14

Record: 18-4 (17-5 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 176 (8.0 per game)

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