Big Ten Tournament Preview: #3 Purdue vs Wisconsin
MINNEAPOLIS — Purdue will meet Wisconsin for the second time in a week Saturday at the Target Center, this time in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
The winner will meet either Illinois or Nebraskas Sunday for the tournament title.
DETAILS: Saturday, March 15, 2024 | 1 p.m. ET | TV: CBS (Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (29-3): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
WISCONSIN (21-12): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
THREE THINGS ABOUT PURDUE
• Braden Smith hyper-extended his knee vs. Michigan State, but returned to the game and said he’d be fine to play Saturday.
• With a win, Purdue would match the 2017-2018 team’s school record of 30 victories.
• Purdue beat Wisconsin 78-70 to close the regular season six days ago in Mackey Arena, completing a two-game regular season sweep of the Badgers.
A FEW THINGS ABOUT THIS GAME
• Badger point guard Chucky Hepburn missed the Northwestern game with a sore knee but reportedly expects to play Saturday.
• Wisconsin will be playing its third game in as many days, after beating belly-up Maryland Thursday, then banged-up Northwestern Friday.
| TURNOVERS | REBOUNDING | DEFENSIVE ROTATIONS |
| It’s always turnovers. Wisconsin isn’t going to give the ball away much, though this isn’t a typical patient, high-IQ Badger team. | The Badgers are vulnerable on the defensive glass and the Boilermakers built to exploit such things. | Purdue’s going to help against Wahl and may get broken down by AJ Storr on occasion. |
GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 77, WISCONSIN 68
It is difficult to beat a team three times in the same season, yes, and we’ll see how Smith looks, but how can you pick against Purdue here? Wisconsin did get a bunch of garbage points against Purdue last week, but Purdue can clean up the garbage.
