What a game it was for Wisconsin basketball. The Badgers opened up the Big Ten Tournament by destroying 12 seed Maryland 87-56 in the second round. The Badgers were stellar on offense, making 16 threes and shooting 52% from the field.
Up next is a quarterfinal battle with Northwestern. Wisconsin basketball won only meeting in the regular season 71-63 in Madison in January. Can the Badgers keep the momentum going? Tip time is 1:30 PM tomorrow. Here is a preview of tomorrow’s quarterfinal.
All About Boo Buie
Everything Northwestern does revolves around senior point guard Boo Buie. He is an incredible guard who has been great over the last two seasons. Very similar to Maryland’s Jahmir Young, Buie is heavily relied upon by Chris Collins and his teammates.What makes Buie unique is his movement with and without the ball. I think he does a great job getting open and creating his own shot without trying to get fouled. He is also good at floaters in the paint.
Despite the 22 hour turnaround time, Chucky Hepburn only played 21 minutes today because of the blowout. He should be as rested as you can be with back to back games. The battle between Buie and Hepburn will play a big factor in who wins.
Wisconsin Basketball Needs to Continue to Feed Steven Crowl
Steven Crowl responded well to himself and Greg Gard this week. It’s been multiple times this year he has been called out by his coach for not being aggressive enough. Today, he was aggressive early and owned the battle between him and Julian Reese. Crowl led Wisconsin basketball with 17 points in 18 minutes on 7-8 shooting and 3-3 from three. He wan excellent today.
Why does this matter? Chris Collins stated earlier this week Northwestern seven foot center Matthew Nicholson would miss the tournament this week because of an injury. It will be Luke Hunger and Blake Preston who will draw the assignment of Crowl. I think he has a big advantage tomorrow. If I’m Wisconsin basketball, continue to feed it to the big man.
Prediction
I expect this to be a defensive game and low-scoring tomorrow. The Badgers don’t have to start out as hot as they did today, but they do need to dictate the style of this game like they did today. With no one playing extreme minutes against Maryland, they should be fairly rested coming into tomorrow.
With the loss of Nicholson and Ty Berry for the season, Northwestern is razor thin at guard and forward. They depend on Boo Buie, Brooks Barnhizer, and Ryan Langborg a ton. All three play at least 34 minutes a game. If either one get in foul trouble. Chris Collins can’t afford to sit them. He doesn’t have the depth to do so.
At the same time, all three are very good players and have stepped up in Berry’s absence. Collins also mentioned they worked hard to get the double bye because they needed the extra day of rest. The Wildcats will have six days off between games.
The Badgers have to take care of the ball in this game. In the first meeting, they were on the verge of running Northwestern out of the Kohl Center. However, they got careless with the ball and the Wildcats hung in until the final few minutes.
You don’t have to dominate like you did today, but Wisconsin basketball needs to continue to do the little things on both sides. Northwestern provides a difficult challenge, but I think the Badgers are up for it.
Boo Buie can do so many things and is a very good scorer, but it’s hard to pick against Wisconsin after what we saw today. That was a very good Maryland defense they carved up in a matter of minutes. There is so much momentum on Wisconsin basketball’s side that I think they beat Northwestern. If they have to go to their bench for an extended period of time, the Badgers will be too much. Give me Wisconsin to go to the semifinals.
Wisconsin 68 Northwestern 62
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