Wisconsin will play it's 2nd game this week in the Las Vegas Invitational tonight, completing their home slate in the tournament against the Blue Hose of Presbyterian as they look to continue to stay undefeated against opposition not in the Top 25 of the rankings. The game tips at 7pmCT and airs exclusively on ESPN3 online via your internet provider.
The Opposition
Presbyterian is 0-3 o the young season with losses to Clemson, Georgia Tech on it's resume to start the year. Most recently it was an 87-58 loss to Creighton in their first game of the Las Vegas Invitational. The Blue Hose are members of the Big South Conference and are led by a pair of double digit scorers as they are averaging just 47 points a game so far this season.
Leading the way for them is sophomore guard Jordan Downing, who averages 12.7 points per game. He is joined in double digit scoring by forward Joshua Clyburn, who averages 10 points a game. The Blue Hose are perhaps the youngest team the Badgers will face all season long, featuring only one senior and eleven underclassmen on the roster. This team has issues with height and rebounding as a whole and rank 341st in rebounding in the country, pulling down just 27 boards a game.
Matchup of the Game
This is a complete mismatch to the Badger favor, but if you want to look at one matchup as a key to this game it should be Jared Berggren versus the Blue Hose's Joshua Clyburn. Clyburn pulls down 7 rebounds a game and is their only true inside presence. If he can battle evenly with Berggren early on the Badger may have a bit of a fight on their hands, but it may not be all that big of a matchup overall because of the talent gulf between these two schools.
Keys to the Game
Wisconsin needs to show some threat from deep tonight. They're hitting just 31.3% from deep and are only averaging 7 made three's per game. It would be nice to see them start getting hot from deep if they are going to continue to shoot over 20 three's a game otherwise come Big Ten play this team could be in trouble. Otherwise I'm not sure there's much else to key a Badgers victory that should come easy tonight.
Prediction: Wisconsin 88, Presbyterian 44
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