Preview: Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at No. 24 Wisconsin
MADISON, Wis. — At the end of a four-game homestand, No. 24 Wisconsin (3-0) hosts SIUE (3-1). The Badgers and Cougars haven’t met in 27 years. Following Monday’s contest, UW will takes its show out West for three games between a non-conference matchup with BYU and the Rady Children’s Invitational…
GAME INFO
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: Kohl Center (Madison, Wis.)
TV: Big Ten Network
STREAM: Fox Sports Go
VEGAS LINE: Wisconsin – 25.5
SERIES HISTORY: Wisconsin leads 2-0
LAST MEETING: Wisconsin won 88-58 in 2008
NUMBERS TO KNOW
2: Wisconsin leads the all-time series with SIUE 2-0.
4: A win would give the Badgers their second consecutive 4-0 start to the season.
11: The Cougars are 0-11 all-time against top 25 opponents.
15: UW has won 15 consecutive home non-conference games.
2008: The two schools are meeting for the first time since 2008.
WHAT TO WATCH
Can SIUE slow down Wisconsin’s potent attack?
The Cougars held Drake to just 59 points in their last outing. Entering Monday, SIUE leads the Ohio Valley Conference in opponent field goal percentage (34.6%).
Wisconsin will obviously be a much bigger test and likely the best offense SIUE faces all season. In three home games, the Badgers are averaging 93.0 points per game, the fourth-best mark in school history at this point in a season. UW has also put up those numbers despite some erratic shooting from 3-point range.
STARTING LINEUPS
SIUE
G Jack Campion (5-11 Sr.) – 6.5 ppg, 4.3 apg
G Jordan Pickett (6-3 Jr.) – 5.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg
F Myles Thompson (6-7 Sr.) – 11.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg
F Ring Malith (6-9 Sr.) – 17.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg
C Arnas Sakenis (7-1 Sr.) – 2.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg
WISCONSIN
G Nick Boyd (6-2 Sr.) – 19.3 ppg, 2.3 apg
G John Blackwell (6-4 Jr.) – 18.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg
G Andrew Rohde (6-5 Sr.) – 7.7 ppg, 1.7 apga
F Austin Rapp (6-10 So.) – 10.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg
F Nolan Winter (7-0 Jr.) – 16.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg
PREDICTION
SIUE was a tournament team a year ago. The Cougars won 22 games before falling to eventual national runner-up Houston in the Round of 64. SIUE does return two starters from that group.
As a program, SIUE is 0-11 all-time against top 25 opponents. This seems to be a lesser team than the one that one the OVC and reached the NCAA Tournament last season. Even that group was blown out all three times by high-major competition, including against a pair of Big Ten schools, Illinois and Indiana.
Against Division 1 competition this season, SIUE is averaging 64.0 ppg. Tough to see the Cougars keeping pace at the Kohl Center, where Wisconsin is putting up 93 ppg.
Wisconsin 83 SIUE 54
