No. 11 Wisconsin will look to extend its recent homecourt supremacy against Minnesota when the teams meet in a Big Ten Conference matchup Sunday at Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin has won nine of the past 10 at home against the Gophers and 11 of the past 13 meetings overall. The Gophers’ only recent win at the Kohl Center was a 59-52 victory in January 2019.
The Badgers (16-3, 7-2 Big Ten) are coming off a 73-65 victory at Nebraska on Thursday. Fifth-year senior guard Ben Davison had a team-high 21 points, hitting five 3-pointers, giving him 274 for his career and moving him past Bronson Koenig as Wisconsin’s all-time leader.
Minnesota (11-6, 2-6) dropped a 75-64 decision at home to No. 16 Ohio State on Thursday after trailing by just two at the half. The Gophers have lost five of their past six.
Wisconsin was bolstered at Nebraska by the return of forward Tyler Wahl. He missed the Badgers’ previous game, an 86-74 loss to then-No. 14 Michigan State on Jan. 21, with an ankle injury.
Wahl had a team-high 10 rebounds in 22 minutes against the Cornhuskers to help the Badgers to a 47-34 advantage on the glass. Without Wahl, Wisconsin was hammered on the boards by Michigan State, 39-20.
“For him, that was about where we were, 15 to 20ish,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said of Wahl’s minutes on Thursday. “In that little flurry at the end, I had to get him back in. … He’s seen pressure, he’s seen those situations. We needed him to knock down two free throws, which was good. He felt good and it’s a good little test. We’ll see how he feels … and get him ready for Sunday.”
Wisconsin guard Johnny Davis, whose average of 21.7 points per game ranked sixth in the nation through Thursday, had 13 points and nine rebounds against Nebraska after missing all five of his shots in a scoreless first half.
Davis also averages a team-best 7.5 boards per game. Davison puts up 15.7 points per game, and Wahl contributes 10.6 points and 5.9 rebounds.
Jamison Battle is the Gophers’ top scorer at 17.8 per game, with Payton Willis at 16.2 and E.J. Stephens at 11.6. Eric Curry, who missed the past three games with an ankle injury, is the leading rebounder at 6.8, and Battle averages 6.3 boards.
Battle returned after missing one game with a non-COVID illness to score a team-high 15 against Ohio State, but made just 5 of 18 shots. Stephens cleared health and safety protocol and also returned against the Buckeyes.
The Gophers, who were beaten 48-22 on the boards by Ohio State, have been outrebounded by 6.2 per game. Wisconsin’s 7-foot tandem of sophomore Steven Crowl and grad transfer Chris Vogt will be a challenge if Curry is not able to play.
“I think that was everything, really,” Minnesota coach Ben Johnson said of the Thursday defeat. “It didn’t matter what lineup we had in there, we just could not find a way to get the ball. We knew they were probably going to take a decent amount of threes just by the way we were playing. Long shots mean long rebounds, and I just think they did a better job than us of being physical and going to get the ball.”
–Field Level Media
