The Wisconsin Badgers host the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Big 10 play. Will the Badgers remain unbeaten in conference play or will the Gophers secure their first B10 win of the season?
Lets preview tonight’s showdown between these two Big 10 foes.
Game Information
- Matchup: (#14) Wisconsin Badgers (10-2, 2-0 in Big Ten) vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (6-6, 0-2 in Big Ten)
- When: Tuesday, January 3, 2022
- Time: 9:00 p.m. EDT/8:00 p.m. CDT
- Where: Kohl Center, Madison, Wisconsin
- How To Watch: Big Ten Network
Game Breakdown
Greg Gard’s Wisconsin Badgers have lived up to the hype in 2022 and look to continue the trend as the calendar turns to 2023. The Badgers are led by star Senior, Tyler Wahl who’s 14.1ppg and 6.8rpg are good enough for first on the squad in both categories. The Minnesota-native, Wahl, will look to take it to his home state team in what’s been his breakout season.
While Wahl is the star man, thus far for Wisconsin, Chucky Hepburn began the season on a white hot streak, but has fizzled a bit as of late despite the Badgers’ recent success.
Picking up the slack for Hepburn in the backcourt has been the assent of Freshman, Connor Essegian, who’s averaging 10.4ppg while playing just a shade over 20 minutes per game in the early season. While the aforementioned trio has led the way for the Badgers, it’s been a death by a thousand paper cuts for the opposition as Wisconsin has held opponents to just 61ppg, good enough for fourth in the conference and are a top-25 defense in the country despite just scoring a shade under 69ppg themselves.
Game Prediction
While the Gophers have won two straight contests, they have yet to keep a conference game within their grasp as they were trounced by both Purdue and Michigan by 19 and 15 points respectively. The Badgers should prove to be too much to handle for Ben Johnson’s Gophers and Wisconsin should walk away head into their showdown against Illinois on Saturday afternoon in Champaign with an unblemished Big 10 record following their contest against Minnesota, this evening.
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