After taking down Ohio State 63-60 to end a two game road trip the Badgers return to the Kohl Center to close out the regular season. They are also facing their 2nd game in 3 days and 3rd in 6 days, something that may come in very handy come tournament time for this Wisconsin team. Or something that may prove a bump in the road for a Badger team looking for a top 4 seed in the Big Ten tournament.
Starting off the regular season ending home slate are the hated rivals of Minnesota. Wisconsin will be looking to avoid the sluggish performance they had in a 68-61 overtime victory at Williams Arena as they go for the season sweep of the Gophers.
Following that win the Badgers have had a 2-2 record with wins over Penn State and the already mentioned upset of Ohio State. But they are more than capable of losing to a lower tier team as being swept by Iowa proved this past Thursday.
Minnesota on the other hand has been on a tailspin since their loss to Wisconsin as they are currently have a 5 game losing streak. So, what’s gone wrong for the Gophers?
Part of it has been the quality of opponents they’ve faced, but it’s also been a total collapse from the team. Four of the five losses are to ranked teams and four of the five losses have come at home, which isn’t exactly a positive step for a team that looked like they could make a run to the NCAA tournament once again before being knocked off by the Badgers. The worst of the losing streak may have come just two days ago as they were beat down, 69-50, by Indiana at Williams Arena.
Minnesota’s collapse has come because they’ve really forgotten how to score, with their highest point total in this losing streak being 68 points against Ohio State. As a team the Gophers are averaging 60.3 points a game and you can really tell they are missing Trevor Mbakwe big time.
Rodney Williams leads the team in points (10.7), blocks (1.4), and steals (1.4) and is the guy most capable of going off offensively.
Don’t be totally fooled by the losing streak though as the Gophers put a heck of scare into Michigan State, only losing by 5.
The other pratfall to watch out for is a bit of a letdown by the Badgers after the big Ohio State win. But the good news is seniors Jordan Taylor and Rob Wilson aren’t too keen on losing to Minnesota, so it’s a bit doubtful they’ll be overlooking the Gophers.
Wilson’s contributions off the bench down the stretch here have been huge for the Badgers and one of the most under the radar stories in the Big Ten this season. He’s come in, steadied the ship, and even has been clutch from beyond the arc.
Between Ryan Evans and him they’ve really been the creative forces on the Badgers heading down the final home stretch and I look for them to be keys against the Gophers.
This rivalry is about as close as it can get with Minnesota holding a 100-90 advantage in the series, but Wisconsin has really owned Minnesota as of late, winning 15 of the last 19 matchups in the series, but Tubby is 4-4 against the Badgers so anything is possible.
I’m not luled into believing all is right with the Badgers after the OSU victory, but they have to have some confidence coming off that win and the combination of a bad offensive Gophers team and a very good Badgers defense bodes well for a Wisconsin victory and it may not even be close.
Prediction: Wisconsin 66 – Minnesota 51
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