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Wisconsin vs. Nebraska Preview and Predictions
By Gracenote for Scores and Stats
by Gracenote on 01/09/2018
Nebraska is coming off a game in which it wishes it could get a mulligan for the first 10 minutes, while Wisconsin would probably like nothing more than to forget about its last outing altogether. A pair of teams hoping to sneak back over .500 in Big Ten play meet Tuesday when the Badgers travel to Lincoln to meet the Cornhuskers.
No. 7 Purdue raced out to a 15-point advantage less than 10 minutes into Saturday's game and managed to keep Nebraska at an arm's length thereafter in a 74-62 setback for the Cornhuskers, who held the Boilermakers to 36.7 percent from the field after they knocked down nine of their first 12 shots. "We'd definitely like to replay it. They came out stronger than we did. They sustained it. Every time we looked up at the clock later in the game, they were still up nine or 10. We just couldn't bounce back from it, and that hurts," Nebraska junior guard James Palmer Jr. told reporters. Wisconsin began a stretch in which it plays five of six away from home with a thud Friday, falling 64-60 at Rutgers to give the Scarlet Knights their first conference win of the season. "The most important thing was taking care of the ball and we didn't do that well at all. You've got to be able to maximize every possession and we had 14 possessions where we didn't do a good job," Badgers coach Greg Gard told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
ABOUT WISCONSIN (9-8, 2-2 Big Ten): The Badgers took care of business inside the arc Friday by converting 61.8 percent of their shots, but they could not overcome a 2-for-13 showing from 3-point range and were minus-eight in turnover differential. Ethan Happ is the only major-conference player averaging at least 16 points (16.7), eight rebounds (8.4) and three assists (3.5) per game and coming off his sixth double-double of the season (10 points, 10 boards), although the junior forward also committed half of his team's turnovers (seven) versus Rutgers. Brad Davison (11.9 points), who leads all Big Ten freshmen in scoring, is averaging 14.7 points over his last seven outings and has drained at least one 3-pointer in 15 of his last 16 games.
ABOUT NEBRASKA (11-6, 2-2): Palmer (team-best 15.6 points) and Isaac Copeland (12.4 points, team-high 6.5 rebounds) continued their usual steady play against the Boilermakers with 38 points on a combined 13-for-25 from the field, but their teammates could muster only 24 points on 9-of-29 shooting. One of the players who struggled the most was Glynn Watson Jr. (12.1 points), who finished 2-of-10 with seven points; the junior point guard had 19 points against Northwestern but has totaled 10 points in his other three games combined and is shooting 30.2 percent in his last five outings overall. Palmer (102) ranks fifth in the Big Ten in free-throw attempts and is one of only two guards in the conference with more than 100 for the season.
TIP-INS
1. Wisconsin has won eight of 10 in this series since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011, although they split their meetings in 2015-16 and the Badgers prevailed 70-69 in overtime in their only meeting last season.
2. The Cornhuskers' 1.28 assist-to-turnover ratio is their best rate since posting a 1.64 mark in 1985-86.
3. Davison is vying to become only the fourth Badger in the last 20 years - joining Devin Harris, Alando Tucker and Happ - to average at least 10 points during his freshman campaign.
PREDICTION: Nebraska 68, Wisconsin 63
By Gracenote for Scores and Stats
by Gracenote on 01/09/2018
Nebraska is coming off a game in which it wishes it could get a mulligan for the first 10 minutes, while Wisconsin would probably like nothing more than to forget about its last outing altogether. A pair of teams hoping to sneak back over .500 in Big Ten play meet Tuesday when the Badgers travel to Lincoln to meet the Cornhuskers.
No. 7 Purdue raced out to a 15-point advantage less than 10 minutes into Saturday's game and managed to keep Nebraska at an arm's length thereafter in a 74-62 setback for the Cornhuskers, who held the Boilermakers to 36.7 percent from the field after they knocked down nine of their first 12 shots. "We'd definitely like to replay it. They came out stronger than we did. They sustained it. Every time we looked up at the clock later in the game, they were still up nine or 10. We just couldn't bounce back from it, and that hurts," Nebraska junior guard James Palmer Jr. told reporters. Wisconsin began a stretch in which it plays five of six away from home with a thud Friday, falling 64-60 at Rutgers to give the Scarlet Knights their first conference win of the season. "The most important thing was taking care of the ball and we didn't do that well at all. You've got to be able to maximize every possession and we had 14 possessions where we didn't do a good job," Badgers coach Greg Gard told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
ABOUT WISCONSIN (9-8, 2-2 Big Ten): The Badgers took care of business inside the arc Friday by converting 61.8 percent of their shots, but they could not overcome a 2-for-13 showing from 3-point range and were minus-eight in turnover differential. Ethan Happ is the only major-conference player averaging at least 16 points (16.7), eight rebounds (8.4) and three assists (3.5) per game and coming off his sixth double-double of the season (10 points, 10 boards), although the junior forward also committed half of his team's turnovers (seven) versus Rutgers. Brad Davison (11.9 points), who leads all Big Ten freshmen in scoring, is averaging 14.7 points over his last seven outings and has drained at least one 3-pointer in 15 of his last 16 games.
ABOUT NEBRASKA (11-6, 2-2): Palmer (team-best 15.6 points) and Isaac Copeland (12.4 points, team-high 6.5 rebounds) continued their usual steady play against the Boilermakers with 38 points on a combined 13-for-25 from the field, but their teammates could muster only 24 points on 9-of-29 shooting. One of the players who struggled the most was Glynn Watson Jr. (12.1 points), who finished 2-of-10 with seven points; the junior point guard had 19 points against Northwestern but has totaled 10 points in his other three games combined and is shooting 30.2 percent in his last five outings overall. Palmer (102) ranks fifth in the Big Ten in free-throw attempts and is one of only two guards in the conference with more than 100 for the season.
TIP-INS
1. Wisconsin has won eight of 10 in this series since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011, although they split their meetings in 2015-16 and the Badgers prevailed 70-69 in overtime in their only meeting last season.
2. The Cornhuskers' 1.28 assist-to-turnover ratio is their best rate since posting a 1.64 mark in 1985-86.
3. Davison is vying to become only the fourth Badger in the last 20 years - joining Devin Harris, Alando Tucker and Happ - to average at least 10 points during his freshman campaign.
PREDICTION: Nebraska 68, Wisconsin 63
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