No. 24 Wisconsin (8-3) vs. Chicago State (7-9)
Game: Friday, Dec. 22 in the Kohl Center
Time: 7:00 P.M. CT
Watch: BTN
Listen: 1310 WIBA AM and 101.5 FM (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch on the call); stream online on iHeartRadio
Prediction: Wisconsin 70, Chicago State 53
Follow Online: The Badgers' Den
Twitter: @Badger_Blitz
Betting line: Wisconsin -23.5 (according to ESPN BET)
PRE-GAME NOTES
Wisconsin will prepare to host the Chicago State Cougars for a Friday night matchup in the Kohl Center, in the Badgers' final non-conference game of the season.
Wisconsin will enter having won seven of its last eight, including a recent 75-60 win over Jacksonville State.
Chicago State lost nine of their first 12, but have since turned their season around and will enter on a four-game win streak that began with a 75-73 win over the then-No. 25 Northwestern Wildcats.
Leading the Cougars through their recent success has been guard Wesley Cardet Jr., who is averaging 23.7 points per game during the streak, bringing his season average to a team-high 18.9 points per game.
The Badgers have faced a variety of talented, ball-dominant scoring guards as of late, such as Jacksonville State’s KyKy Tandy or Arizona’s Caleb Love. Cardet falls into that category.
The Cougars’ opportunity for an upset win ultimately rests on Cardet’s shoulders. In their victory over Northwestern, they needed him to score 30 points on 61.9% shooting to barely squeak out a win
Alongside Cardet is fellow guard Jahsean Corbett, the other Cougar currently averaging double figures, at 13.0 points per game.
While Corbett is prone to hot scoring nights, he’s equally as prone to shooting slumps. He’s making just 36.3% of his field goals during the four-game winning streak, including 20% from long range.
The 6-foot-7 guard, beyond his scoring, is still one of the most versatile players on the team. He even leads the team in rebounding with 7.0 per game.
Ultimately, the greatest concern for the Cougars isn’t scoring. It’ll be figuring out how to slow down Wisconsin’s front court.
Chicago State is an incredibly small team, even by non-Big Ten standards. Corbett and 6-foot-7 forward Cameron Jernigan are the tallest players in the Cougars’ rotation. Jernigan will likely have to play more than his 11.7 minutes per game average.
Against Jacksonville State, Tyler Wahl scored all of Wisconsin’s first eight points within the opening five minutes, ultimately finishing with 16 points and seven rebounds. It was a needed bounce-back performance from Wahl, who was averaging 8.6 points on 39.1% shooting over his previous three games.
Jacksonville State simply had no answer for Wisconsin’s size. The Badgers scored 40 points in the paint, compared to the Gamecocks’ 20.
Steven Crowl might have played even better than Wahl, finishing with team-highs in both points (19) and rebounds (9). He absolutely bullied the Gamecocks’ front line, seemingly finding a good shot inside whenever he wanted. He’s been Wisconsin’s best player this season and is getting better as the season progresses, averaging 14.1 points on 64.7% shooting over Wisconsin’s recent 7-1 run.
“We knew we wanted to pound the ball inside,” head coach Greg Gard said. “When you have a size advantage, you don’t want to get into a jump-shot contest all the time and let them neutralize what our advantage is of not playing through our bigs. Steve’s demand of the ball for the most part, Tyler in there really set the tone that we were going to pound it at them."
Jacksonville State’s lack of size also led to another strong performance from A.J. Storr, who was able to drive to the basket as much as he pleased, finishing with 13 points on 4-8 shooting.
The three biggest, and best, members of Wisconsin’s starting lineup will look to find similar success against yet another small lineup.
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