Wisconsin @ Minnesota preview
Williams Arena
Last Meeting ( Jan 30, 2022 ) Minnesota 60, Wisconsin 66
No. 13 Wisconsin will hope to quickly refocus on basketball when the Badgers travel to Minnesota for a Big Ten matchup on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.
Wisconsin (21-5, 12-4 Big Ten) is coming off 77-63 home victory over Michigan on Saturday, which was followed by a confrontation in the post-game handshake line that escalated when Michigan coach Juwan Howard hit Badgers assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft.
Howard was upset with a timeout called with 15 seconds left by Wisconsin coach Greg Gard. The heated post-game discussion led to the melee involving coaches and players. While Howard received a five-game suspension and a $40,000 fine Monday evening, Gard was fined $10,000 and was not suspended. Reserve Jahcobi Neath was suspended one game for his role in the fight.
"Unfortunately, like I said, it overshadowed momentarily. I'm not going to let it overshadow it much longer," Gard said. "Our team played really well in the second half and we've got a damn good team."
Wisconsin, which has struggled against elite big men, limited Michigan's Hunter Dickinson to six points in the second half after he scored 15 before the break. Johnny Davis scored nine consecutive points to cap an 18-2 second-half run, helping the Badgers tie Illinois a half-game behind Purdue for first place in the conference.
"I thought we were really locked in as a team," Davis said. "We're kind of good at situations like that, when we're down, of just slowly creeping back. But once we got out to that big lead, I thought we did a good job of holding on to it."
Davis, who has put himself in the player of the year conversation, averages a team-best 20.9 points and 8.3 rebounds. Davis has scored 25 or more nine times, including seven in Big Ten play.
Wisconsin, which moved up two spots in the poll this week, is 12-1 in games decided by six points or less.
Minnesota (13-12, 4-12) defeated Northwestern 77-60 on Saturday behind a combined 45 points from Luke Loewe and Jamison Battle. Minnesota held Northwestern to 37.3 percent shooting, although the Gophers committed 15 turnovers.
"I think over the season our guys have gotten more and more confident in our zone defense," Minnesota coach Ben Johnson said. "It is good that you can make stops and then be rewarded by making shots because now you have the ultimate confidence and you have belief."
The Gophers lost the first meeting at Wisconsin 66-60 in late January. In that game, Davis had 16 points and 15 rebounds, including the game's final six points after the Gophers drew even at 60 with 2:23 remaining. The Badgers scored 13 points off 11 Minnesota turnovers.
Battle leads the Gophers with 16.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Point guard Payton Willis, who missed the Northwestern game due to COVID-19 protocol, averages 15.6 points and E.J. Stephens adds 10.5.
Wisconsin fifth-year senior Brad Davison averages 14.5 points and Tyler Wahl adds 11.2 points and 5.6 boards. Steven Crowl, a 7-foot sophomore, averages 9.2 points.
Chucky Hepburn, the first true freshman to start for the Badgers since eventual NBA standout Devin Harris in 2001, has just 32 turnovers while playing 31 minutes per game.
Wisconsin is next-to-last in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting percentage (31.0), but is first in the nation in fewest turnovers with 8.5 per game. The Badgers also have made 100 more free throws than their opponents.
--Field Level Media