Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas
The Wisconsin Badgers (11-2, 8-5 ATS, 7-6 O/U) collide with the Illinois Fighting Illini (9-5, 7-7 ATS, 6-8 O/U) in a Big Ten showdown on Saturday afternoon. The Badgers stayed hot with a narrow home win against Minnesota last time out. The Fighting Illini were charged with a road loss against Northwestern on Wednesday night. Illinois beat Wisconsin 80-67 in the lone meeting last season.
The #14 Wisconsin Badgers are undefeated in three Big Ten games. They have defeated Maryland, Iowa in overtime and were favored by 13 points in a 63-60 home win against Minnesota on Tuesday night to improve to 3-0. Wisconsin only has two defeats all year, losing against Kansas in OT, and was involved in another OT decision in the second loss, this time against Wake Forest. Wisconsin has won six in a row and has covered in two of their three conference games.
Tyler Wahl wasn’t at his best in Tuesday’s win against Minnesota, scoring just two points but has consistently produced most of the season. Wahl leads the squad with 13.2 PPG on 42% shooting. Chucky Hepburn is 6 for 10 from three-point range in his last two games. The sophomore guard scored 16 points on Tuesday and has improved his average to 12.2 PPG. Steven Crowl has reached doubl e-digits in points in five consecutive games. The junior forward has logged an average of 11.9 PPG and 6.5 RPG.
3??-0?? in the B1G and it feels so good??@BadgerMBB x @B1GMBBall pic.twitter.com/s5hs9dOCCs
— Wisconsin On BTN (@WisconsinOnBTN) January 4, 2023
The Badgers are positioned at 47th in DI in Ken Pomeroy’s ratings and climbed one spot to #14 in this week’s edition of the AP Top 25. Wisconsin is 2-0 in their only two true road bouts including an overtime win against Marquette. The Badgers have surpassed 70 points in three out of their last four clashes and are averaging 68.5 points, landing them 270th. They are limiting opponents to only 61.2 points, good for 25th.