After winning their second Big Ten game of the year against Northwestern in another overtime thriller, Rutgers basketball is preparing to hit the road to take on Wisconsin. The Badgers are coming into this game on a three-game win streak after beating UCLA, No.4 Michigan, and Minnesota.
Wisconsin currently sits at 12-5. Their most impressive win of the season is a 91-88 stunning victory over a highly ranked Wolverines team that has steamrolled almost everybody in its path, including Rutgers. Three out of their five losses came against teams that were ranked at the time, with the others coming against TCU and RV Villanova.
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The Badgers have a three-headed dragon when it comes to shooting the basketball. The top scorer on their team is guard Nick Boyd, who is averaging 19.2 points per game. Right behind him at 18.6 points per game is guard John Blackwell, with forward Nolan Winter adding 14.1 points per game. Winter also leads the team in rebounds with 8.9, while Boyd leads the team in assists with 3.4. Blackwell leads the team in steals with 1.3 per game. Another player worth noting is forward Austin Rapp, who is averaging 9.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. However, his availability for this game is up in the air as he has missed time recently.
As a team, the Badgers are averaging 82.8 points, 37.1 rebounds, and 15.7 assists per game. Rutgers, in comparison, is averaging 69.8 points, 36.2 rebounds, and 10.7 assists per game.
The issue with facing a team that has multiple high-volume scorers is that if one of them has an off night, the other two can pick up the slack. In comparison, the Knights do not have a high volume scorers outside of Tariq Francis most days, meaning it can be very hard for them to keep pace if Francis struggles.
This is the start of a tougher stretch in Rutgers schedule where they won’t play a team that is considered on their level until at least Midway through February. Since the Knights do have a bit of momentum stemming from their wins over Oregon and Northwestern, they should be able to put up a decent fight, but Wisconsin’s scoring depth might be too much to bear.
The Knights’ game against Wisconsin is set for Saturday, January 17th at 2 pm. Tip-off will be at 2 pm with live coverage being provided by the Big Ten Network.
