After splitting a pair of games on the West Coast, No. 18 Wisconsin is looking forward to home-court advantage in a Big Ten matchup against Nebraska on Sunday afternoon in Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin (15-4, 5-3) lost at UCLA 85-83 on Tuesday to end a seven-game winning streak.
Nebraska (12-7, 2-6) has lost five straight, including a 78-73 home defeat to USC on Wednesday.
The Badgers are 10-1 at home this season, but the Cornhuskers have won three of the last four meetings.
Wisconsin had a chance to tie the Bruins in the final 10 seconds, but John Blackwell’s mid-range jumper was blocked.
“We just could not get stops in the second half,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. “So. It’s been awhile since I’ve had to talk to a locker room that’s not on the right side of the score — over a month since we’ve taken a bump. So, we’ll learn from this. And continue to work on things we have to get better at. And get ready for the next game.”
The Badgers average 82.5 points per game, allowing 71.1. The loss to UCLA was only the second in nine games when scoring at least 80 points. Defensively, dating back to last season, Wisconsin is 27-1 when holding opponents to 70 points or fewer.
John Tonje averages a team-best 17.5 points and Blackwell adds 16.4. Steven Crowl, Nolan Winter and Max Klesmit each average 10.4. Winter leads with 5.8 rebounds and Crowl pulls down 5.5.
Blackwell, who had 23 points against UCLA, has scored 20 or more in four of the last six games.
Wisconsin leads the nation in free-throw percentage at 85.5 entering Saturday, making 347 free throws, the same number its opponents have attempted.
Nebraska has lost five straight after a six-game winning streak, with the last three losses by a total of 11 points.
“We have some really good opportunities ahead of us and some very difficult tasks, but we have to stay together,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said after the loss to USC. “When you’re on a streak like we are right now, the human nature is to start questioning and to separate a little bit, but we have to find a way to stay together through this tough time and hopefully get this thing reversed soon. We are going into one of the most difficult places to play in the league on Sunday, a team that is really clicking right now.”
Brice Williams averages a team-leading 18.5 points and Juwan Gary adds 12.5, with a career-high 27 in the loss to USC. Berke Buyuktuncel averages 5.8 rebounds.
The game marks a homecoming for Connor Essegian, who transferred to Nebraska after two seasons at Wisconsin.
The sharp-shooting swingman averages 11.5 points in just 23 minutes per game, with a team-high 49 3-pointers, shooting 41.5 percent from deep.
Essegian averaged 11.7 points as a freshman with the Badgers, but 3.2 points the following season as his playing time diminished.
–Field Level Media
