No. 6 Wisconsin (16-4, 8-1 Big Ten) at Nebraska (15-6, 5-5)

Game: Thursday, Feb. 1 in Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska

Time: 7:30 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 75, Nebraska 71

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin -1.5 (according to ESPN BET)

The Badgers will travel to Lincoln to play their second repeat-opponent of the season after defeating Michigan State, 81-66. This performance pushed Wisconsin to No. 6 in the recent AP Poll, along with the help of some chaos amongst some other top-10 teams.

Wisconsin first played Nebraska back in early January and beat the Cornhuskers with ease, 88-72.

The only member of the Huskers who had any real impact was Keisei Tominaga, who scored a team-high 17 points. He scored with an efficiency that night — 7-of-10 shooting from the field, 3-of-6 from 3 — that he’s lacked recently. Tominaga has made just 36.1% of his field goals over his last four games, and scored a mere 12 points total over his last two

Many of Nebraska’s other best players struggled against the Badgers, especially when it came to efficiency. The 6-foot-10 forward Rienk Mast scored 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting, while guard Brice Williams finished with just 10 points shooting 3-for-9.

Mast is one of the most talented and productive players in Nebraska’s lineup, but he’s become difficult to trust on a game-to-game basis.

Just over a week ago in a matchup against Ohio State, he shot 13-for-17 and scored 34 points — the most that any Nebraska player has scored in a game this season. However, in three of the past four games excluding that performance, he’s scored 17 total points and hasn’t shot above 40.0% in any.

Based on their first matchup, Nebraska shouldn’t worry about scoring. It needs to get stops.

The Badgers finished the game shooting 55.5% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. They scored 51 points in the first half alone. It was never much of a fight.

Five different players finished in double figures, led by Tyler Wahl’s 17. None of the forwards on Nebraska had the size or defensive ability to stop him or Steven Crowl.

This was also the most recent game, and the only within the past two months, in which Chucky Hepburn scored in double figures.

Inversely, A.J. Storr’s 10 points were tied for his lowest single game total in the last two months. He’ll enter this matchup with some extra momentum, after his 28-point performance against Michigan State.

The big difference this time around could simply be the location. They’ll play in Lincoln this time around, where the Cornhuskers are 13-1 and average 80.6 points per game.

Meanwhile, three of Wisconsin’s four losses this season have come on the road. Their road record, along with a matchup against No. 2 Purdue on Sunday in their minds, the Badgers could be in a vulnerable spot in Lincoln.

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