Ohio State (10-6, 2-3 Big Ten) vs. No.24 Wisconsin (13-3, 3-2 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Tuesday, January 14, 8 p.m.

Arena – Kohl Center (16,838)

Watch – Peacock (Paul Burmeister and Stephen Bardo)

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

Series – Ohio State leads 95-79 (Wisconsin leads 51-34 in Madison)

Last Meeting - Wisconsin won, 62-54, on February 13, 2024, in Madison

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin -6.5

Player to Watch: Kamari McGee averages 22.6 minutes off the bench, averaging a UW career-best 7.1 points and 2.0 assists per game. Starting Friday in place of Klesmit, McGee had 15 points, his highest output as a Badger, five rebounds, two assists, and three steals in 33 minutes.

Player to watch: Thornton has seven 20-point games this year and has led the team in scoring eight times. Only three Buckeyes have averaged 17 or more points in a season over the last 12 seasons.

The only regular-season meeting this season, tonight marks the 175th meeting between Wisconsin and Ohio State in a series that dates to 1905.

The Badgers have won two straight, four of the last five, and seven of the last 10 games against Ohio State.

Over the last 12 meetings dating back to 2017, Wisconsin holds a 7-5 edge but just a four-point edge in the overall score 827-823.

Under head coach Greg Gard, UW is 9-5 against the Buckeyes.

Wisconsin has held OSU under 70 points in the last 5 meetings. The Badgers have won 11 of the last 12 when holding the Buckeyes below 70.

Wisconsin is one of four teams in the Big Ten that has five starters averaging in double figures.

Greg Gard is one win from becoming the fourth Wisconsin coach to reach the 200-win milestone, joining a trio of Naismith Hall of Famers: Bo Ryan, Walter Meanwell, and Bud Foster. A win would make him the third-fastest in Wisconsin history.

UW is holding opponents to 30.8 percent from 3-point range this season. Only six of UW's 16 opponents have hit 35 percent or better from deep. The Gophers shot 36.8 percent (7-for-19) on Friday.

With a 1.54 assist-to-turnover ratio, the Badgers are enjoying their 3rd-best A-to-TO ratio in a season, trailing only the 2014-15 team (1.70) and the 2010-11 team (1.71).

Crowl has amassed 1,289 points, 746 rebounds, and 254 assists in his career, putting him on the cusp of becoming the fourth Badger to accumulate at least 1,200 points, 750 rebounds, and 250 assists (Ethan Happ, Nigel Hayes, and Tyler Wahl) and 14th player in the conference.

Ohio State has shot 50 percent or better in a game nine times this season. The Buckeyes shot 50 percent or better just eight times last season. And four of those eight times came after head coach Jake Diebler became the interim coach.

Shooting 37.8 percent from three, fourth-best in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes have made 10 threes in a game in four of the first six games this season after hitting double-digit threes just eight times last season

Thornton scored a career-high 30 or more points in back-to-back games vs. Kentucky and Indiana State on Dec. 21 and Dec. 29. The last Buckeye with back-to-back 30-point games was national player of the year Evan Turner when he scored 31 points in back-to-back games of the 2010 Big Ten Tournament.

Royal has made a jump from his freshman year to his sophomore, increasing nearly 10 points and five rebounds per game from his rookie season.

Ques Glover and Aaron Bradshaw missed nearly a month of action before returning to the lineup for the game against No. 4 Kentucky on Dec. 21. Both are averaging at least seven points off the bench.

Wisconsin has yet to beat a Big Ten team that ranks in the top 40 in adjusted defensive efficiency. The Badgers will get a fourth crack at notching that feat against an Ohio State team that ranks 36th in adjusted defense, 22nd in effective field goal percentage, and 28th in opponent three-point percentage. The Buckeyes held Kentucky – ranked third nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency – to 29.8 percent shooting in a neutral-site win last month.

Unlike Minnesota, which ranked fourth in the Big Ten in scoring defense but had little offense to back it up, Ohio State has some physical pieces and some athletic options that allow them to throw different combinations at teams and have some scoring pop.

Almost an entirely new roster compared to the last meeting between the schools, the Buckeyes have several intriguing marks for the Badgers to cover. Thornton is the elder statesman of the group, scoring a game-high 18 on 19 shots last season in Madison, but the supporting cast is new to their roles.

While listed as a guard, Royal had worked at the four. He has led the team in scoring six times but is coming off a four-point, four-turnover game against Oregon. Stewart – a Duke transfer – is one of two non-three-point threats on the team (reserve Evan Mahaffey the other) but is athletic and gets into passing lanes (10 steals).

In addition to Stewart, Diebler added a sharpshooter in Mobley out of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. And a veteran presence in Parrish from San Diego State, who leads the starters in perimeter shooting in Big Ten play (37.5 percent).

Despite ranking 15th in scoring defense, Ohio State ranks in the top five in the league in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, field goal percentage defense, and three-point percentage defense.

This has the feel of a game Wisconsin could struggle with, but the Badgers are playing with so much momentum and synergy at the moment that it’s hard to bet against them, especially at the Kohl Center.

Worgull’s Prediction: Wisconsin by 8

Record: 13-3 (12-4 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 134 (8.4 per game)

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