Previewing No. 23 Wisconsin vs. Iowa
The No. 23 Wisconsin Badgers are fresh off of a statement victory on the road over the No. 3 Purdue Boilermakers.
On Thursday, Wisconsin will be forced to get right back to work, taking on the Iowa Hawkeyes at the Kohl Center.
Kohl Center history will be made on Thursday night when the nation’s top two leading scorers go head to head. Iowa’s Keegan Murray (24.5 ppg) and Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis (22.3 ppg) matching up will be the first time in the history of the Kohl Center that the nations top two scorers have played against one another in the building.
This game will also feature a pair of super seniors in Brad Davison and Jordan Bohannon. Bohannon joked on Tuesday that the game might have to be moved up so as not to interfere with the super seniors’ bed time.
Can we move the game up earlier on Thursday? It’s going to be past me and Brad’s bedtime
— Jordan Bohannon (@JordanBo_3) January 5, 2022
The Iowa Hawkeyes have been a tough adversary for head coach Greg Gard. Over the course of his tenure he’s just 3-6 all time against Fran McCaffery.
Notable KenPom Rankings:
Wisconsin: 32nd ranked team, 33rd in ADJ Defense, 2nd in turnover%.
Purdue: 23rd ranked team, 3rd in ADJ Offense, 7th in Avg. Poss. Length.
Iowa’s projected starters:
Guard: Joe Toussaint (5.2 ppg, 3.9 apg)
Guard: Jordan Bohannon (10.6 ppg, 1.4 apg)
Forward: Patrick McCaffery (11.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
Forward: Keegan Murray (24.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg)
Forward: Filip Rebraca (6.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg)
Wisconsin projected starters:
Guard: Chucky Hepburn (7.3 ppg, 2.2 apg)
Guard: Brad Davison (14.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
Guard: Johnny Davis (22.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
Forward: Tyler Wahl (8.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
Center: Steven Crowl (8.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg)
This is going to be a game with contrasting styles of play. Iowa plays at the 7th fastest pace of play, and is scoring 87.4 points per game – good for 2nd in the nation.
Wisconsin, on the other hand, is 216th in terms of pace of play, instead picking and choosing when to push the ball, and when to wear teams out in the half court.
The Badgers are undefeated this season when scoring 61 or more points, while losing both of the games where they failed to reach that number.
It’s also worth noting that Iowa hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent yet this season.
The Badgers and Hawkeyes tip off at 8 p.m. CT on FS1.
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