The Wisconsin Badgers' week prior saw them go 1-1 as they lost their first Big Ten Conference game against the Penn State Nittany Lions, but then they would go on to have a dominant win over Indiana later in the week. Here is the week ahead for the Badgers, as they travel to rival territory, then come back home to host a team they have already won a game against this year in Michigan State.
Week Ahead
@Minnesota
The Badgers' loss against Penn State didn't hurt them too bad in the rankings, seeing them only drop two spots from 11th to 13th in the nation ahead of this week's rivalry game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Minnesota, who has been on a three-game losing skid recently, has a chance to break that streak and beat a top-fifteen team in the country and their main rival, all in one game. Their hot hand as of late would be Junior Forward Dawson Garcia. Garcia, who averages 13.3 points per game this season, scored 22 points in the most recent loss to Minnesota, in which they only scored sixty-six points. When you have that low scoring of a game but don't play the defense needed to match their offensive production, winning any games in the Big Ten will be tough. Garcia will look for help Tuesday Night with an offense on fire in the Badgers coming to town. The Badgers have plenty of scoring options this season, with the main being St. John's transfer guard, AJ Storr. Storr, who averages 15.3 points per game, is one of many options. He's just one of three that average double figures for the Badgers, as Forwards Steven Crowl (12 points per game) and Tyler Wahl (11.5 points per game) are right there, with Storr pulling their weight. The list doesn't stop there as they have seen a recent hot streak of Junior Guard Max Klesmit, in which he has scored in double figures the last five out of six games as well. As for the bench, they have found a spark plug in Freshman Guard John Blackwell. Blackwell is coming off another explosive week for the Badgers, which led to his third Big Ten Freshman Of The Week award this season. The Badgers will look to continue their firepower offense against their biggest rival Tuesday Night.
Michigan State
The Badgers' second game of the week has a Michigan State team that forced a defensive battle in their first meeting earlier this year coming to town. The Badgers would go out and beat Michigan State on the road already once earlier in the season. Still, they will look for a sweep for the season against the Spartans, who are coming off of a win most recently against Minnesota in which they only gave up sixty-six points to the Golden Gophers while scoring seventy-six.
The Badgers will look to go a clean 2-0 this week against two unranked teams while staying atop the Big Ten Conference Standings.
(Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
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