It's Senior Day in Madison and as we wrote yesterday it'll be a chance as fans to say our goodbye to five of the most underrated and under appreciated players in Badgers history. No, seriously, give that piece a read – there are a few nuggets that you may not realize about this class. Challenging No. 17 Wisconsin will be the Boilermakers of Purdue – a team we haven't actually faced yet this season in the Big Ten.
That alone is hard to believe considering the fact that we are just three games away from the end of the season and all, right? Wisconsin and Purdue have split the last six meetings, but UW holds a 46-36 advantage in games played in Madison. Purdue does lead the all-time series at 104-65 which shouldn't be that shocking considering how awful UW basketball was for about 50 years and how good Purdue basketball has always been.
So, as Wisconsin says goodbye at home to Jared Berggren, Mike Bruesewitz, Ryan Evans, Dan Fahey, and J.D. Wise let's take a look at what is in store for them on Sunday afternoon with a tip at noon on ESPN, shall we?
The Opposition:
Purdue comes in 13-15 overall and 6-9 in Big Ten play, but that doesn't mean this isn't a team capable of competing with any team in the Big Ten – after all, they do own wins over a ranked Illinois team and against Iowa. However this is also a team that won those games at home and have lost four of their last five games coming into this contest.
They have a ton of intriguing, but young talent but this team is clearly led by one Terone Johnson at guard. The older of the Johnson brothers is averaging 12.7 points per game to lead this team in scoring. In fact he is just one of two players on the team to average double figures in scoring.
Overall there are four freshman that have a major impact on Purdue's game, but just how big of an impact is it?
The rookie quartet of Donnie Hale, A.J. Hammons, Ronnie Johnson and Rapheal Davis are combining to average 29.9 points per game this season, which translates into 46.5 percent of the Boilermakers’ scoring on the year.
However, the scary part of this team is the Johnson & Johnson duo who fit each other perfectly with Terone scoring and Ronnie dishing it out to the tune of 3.8 assists per game and it'll be interesting to see how the Badgers combate this dangerous duo.
Key Matchup: Jared Berggren vs. A.J. Hammons
It'll be like looking into a mirror for these big men, only Hammons is a freshman and Berggren is a senior. Both are good players on both sides of the ball and are equally comfortable with their backs to the basket or facing up offensively. It'll be a bit of a cat and mouse game between these two and with Purdue leading the conference in rebounding the Badgers need Berggren to win this individual battle on the boards if they are to win.
Prediction: Wisconsin 66, Purdue 55 – Purdue has some nice parts and it will be interesting to see how the Badgers handle life without Ryan Evans for the first time in 64 games, but they are just too good and too experienced to let this one slip away at the Kohl Center. Expect big games from Berggren, Brust, and Dekker on Sunday afternoon as the Badgers send their seniors off in style.
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