Wisconsin (2-2) vs. Virginia (4-0)
Game: Monday, Nov. 20 inside the Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Florida
Time: 5:00 P.M. CT
Watch: FS1
Listen: 1310 WIBA AM and 101.5 FM (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch on the call); stream online on iHeartRadio
Prediction: Virginia 70, Wisconsin 63
Follow Online: The Badgers' Den
Twitter: @Badger_Blitz
Betting line: Virginia -3.5 (according to ESPN BET)
PRE-GAME NOTES
MADISON, Wis. — The Badgers will head to Florida for the fifth annual Fort Myers Tip Off, which will ultimately be decided on Wednesday.
Wisconsin will enter at 2-2, with both losses coming against major conference opponents in No. 9 Tennessee and Providence.
They’re coming off of a 78-68 win against Robert Morris on Friday, in which the Badgers ultimately pulled away at the end, but it was still far too close for comfort.
A.J. Storr will try to have a bounce-back game after putting up his lowest point total of the season (8) on 3-10 shooting. He’s still averaging a team-high 15.5 points per game and is taking the most shots of any Badger by far (15.5 per game).
Behind him in those stats is fellow guard Chucky Hepburn, who’s averaging 12.8 points while leading the team in assists (3.0 per game) and steals (1.8). He scored 20 in the season opener against Arkansas State, but has cooled off recently, finishing with a combined 18 points over the past two games.
The Robert Morris game didn’t go quite as expected, despite the victory, but the Badgers’ front court finally stepped up and led a winning effort. Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl finished with 18 and 16 points, respectively, on a combined 12-14 shooting. They’ll face off against a Virginia frontcourt that’s struggled against size, allowing 21 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points against Florida 10 days ago.
The only certainty for the Badgers is that they’ll continue to give opportunities to John Blackwell, who’s been the undeniable best freshman and bench player so far this season. When no one could get going against Providence, he scored nine of the team’s 21 first-half points. The freshman guard followed that up with 18 points against Robert Morris, tied for a team-high, while making two of Wisconsin’s three 3-pointers.
Against Virginia, the Badgers will face off against a familiar face in Tony Bennett, the former assistant and son of former Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett. He and Greg Gard even spent two seasons as assistants together under Bo Ryan.
Bennett’s Cavaliers have had a hot start to the year, winning their first four games by an average of 22.7 points.
They’re not led by any real dominant scorer, but their best player statistically has been Ryan Dunn, a guard who leads in points (10.8), rebounds (7.8) and blocks (2.3). Dunn is also coming off of a team-high 15-point game against Texas Southern, nearly double the next-highest scorer.
Yet the offense still ultimately runs through Reece Beekman, the senior guard from Milwaukee. He’s not too far behind Dunn in points, averaging 10.5, while taking 20% of the team’s shots so far this season. His greatest value may be his playmaking, as he’s dishing out 5.8 assists per game on 1.0 turnovers per game.
The player to watch for the Cavaliers could be Isaac McKneely, the guard who went down in the first half against North Carolina A&T last Tuesday, and missed the following game against Texas Southern. He’s second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.7 points on 45.5% shooting, and an absurd 57.1% from 3. His shooting would mean the world against a team like Wisconsin, who just let Robert Morris shoot 44.8% from long range.
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