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Preview: Top 15 matchup between Wisconsin and Ohio State in Madison

No. 10 Wisconsin (12-3, 6-2) vs. No. 14 Ohio State (11-4, 5-4)

Game: Saturday, January 23 inside the Kohl Center; Madison, Wisconsin

Time: 3:00 PM

Watch: CBS (Andrew Catalon and Jim Sparnakel)

Listen: 1310 WIBA AM and 101.5 FM (Matt Lepay and Mike Lucas on the call); stream online on iHeartRadio

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

PRE-GAME NOTES

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Ohio State will likely have senior guard C.J. Walker back for Saturday's matchup.
Ohio State will likely have senior guard C.J. Walker back for Saturday's matchup. (USATSI)

No. 10 Wisconsin looks for its fourth win over a ranked team this season with No. 15 Ohio State headed to the Kohl Center on Saturday afternoon. The Buckeyes are coming off a last-minute loss to Purdue after three consecutive wins.

Ohio State has played well recently and could welcome back senior point guard CJ Walker, who posted a picture on his Instagram with the caption "I'm back."

"They have a lot of weapons," Greg Gard said in a Zoom call with reporters Friday afternoon. "Chris (Holtmann) has a lot of really good players and they've been able to sustain injuries with Walker, who may or may not be back tomorrow. It doesn't matter, it doesn't really change who they are."

Walker missed the last four games due to torn ligaments in his hand, but the Buckeyes went 3-1 during that stretch. Prior to the injury, he led Ohio State by averaging 31.5 minutes per game.

"Jimmy (Sotos) would be doubtful (against the Badgers)," Holtmann told the Columbus Dispatch. "It'll be a tip decision but it's probably doubtful. CJ, he could practice (Friday). I wouldn’t expect it necessarily to be a situation where he’s thrown right back into 32 minutes a night. I think it’s going to be based on how he feels.”

Junior guard Duane Washington Jr., whose 15.7 points per game is ninth best in the Big Ten, has struggled against Wisconsin. UW has limited Washington Jr. to 10.3 points per game on 11 of 36 shooting during his three previous games against the Badgers.

E.J Liddell and Justice Sueing have stepped up nicely this season. Liddell has taken a sophomore jump, upping his scoring from 6.7 to an impressive 14.1 points per game. Sueing, a transfer from California, filled in nicely for Walker and Sotos. Sueing played upwards of 32 minutes per game over the past four contests.

Rounding out the depth for Ohio State are veterans Justin Ahrens and Kyle Young. Ahrens has found his shooting touch over the course of the season - the junior is shooting 50 percent, (31 of 62), from 3-point range. Young, who Wisconsin recruited out of high school, has played in 95 games and started 53 during his career.

"Everyone talks about Michigan, Iowa and Illinois, but the two teams that have really caught my eye from a coach's perspective in terms of the upwards trend they are on has been Ohio State and Purdue," Gard added. "I’ve sat back watching from afar going, ‘they’re rapidly improving.’ I know they played each other the other night and it came down to the last few seconds, but they have a lot of really good players.

"Liddell has gotten a lot better, Washington is a shot maker and playmaker, Ahrens has seemed to really have found his role in making threes. Kyle Young is better, Zed Key has given them a big boost with a big body off the bench. We recruited (Key) pretty hard and I know how good he’s going to be and is right now. He’s just a load inside. They’ve got a lot of really good players. They’re really deep.”

"If you look analytically how you want to play in today’s game, you want to get to the foul line, you want to play inside and you want to shoot threes. You don’t want that intermediate game and they’ve seemed to have found that at a really high level.”

Saturday afternoon will be the 168th meeting between the two schools. OSU leads the series, 92-75. UW has won 13 of the last 16 against Ohio State at home.

Projected Starting Five (Wisconsin)
Pos. Wisconsin HT/WT Pts. Reb. Ast.

G

D'Mitrik Trice (R-Sr.)

6-0, 184

14.8

3.2

3.7

G

Brad Davison (Sr.)

6-4, 202

9.8

3.1

2.4

F

Tyler Wahl (So.)

6-9, 220

5.5

4.1

1.5

F

Aleem Ford (Sr.)

6-8, 217

9.4

4.2

1.1

F

Micah Potter (R-Sr.)

6-10, 248

12.1

6.7

1.3

*Based on Wisconsin's game notes
Projected Starting Five (Ohio State)
Pos. Ohio State HT/WT Pts. Reb. Ast.

G

Duane Washington Jr. (Jr.)

6-3, 210

15.7

2.9

2.9

F

Justin Ahrens (Jr.)

6-6, 195

6.6

1.7

0.2

F

Justice Sueing (R-Jr.)

6-7, 215

10.5

5.2

2.0

F

E.J. Liddell (So.)

6-7, 240

14.1

6.8

1.4

F

Kyle Young (Sr.)

6-8, 225

8.0

6.1

1.1

*Based on Ohio State's game notes
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