The Badgers have revenge on their minds in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
Fresh off a 70-63 win over the Northwestern Wildcats, the Wisconsin Badgers are taking on the UCLA Bruins in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, with tip-off set for 1:30 p.m. central at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Badgers overcame a slow start to beat Northwestern, scoring only nine points over the first eight and a half minutes. But, they became aggressive, creating better quality shots, which gave them the advantage over the final 30 minutes.
Defensively, Wisconsin was stout, especially in opening the second half, as they allowed Northwestern to score just eight points over the first eight minutes of the period. That got the Badgers out to a double-digit lead, helping them control the game for the entire second half.
John Tonje led the Badgers with 18 points, coming alive in the second half to really extend Wisconsin’s lead, but it was also Nolan Winter who had a major impact, reaching 18 points as well, while pulling down six rebounds and playing good defense on star forward Nick Martinelli.
The return of starting guard Max Klesmit proved to be beneficial, as the Badgers senior was aggressive, creating quality shots for him and his teammates in both halves over a productive 23 minutes of action.
Wisconsin now turns to a UCLA Bruins team that they lost to in the regular season, although that was a nail-biting 85-83 loss on the road back in January. The Badgers really struggled defensively in that one, fouling 23 times and allowing the Bruins to shoot over 60 percent inside the arc.
UCLA went 22-9 during the regular season, including 13-7 in Big Ten play. Their win over the USC Trojans in the regular season finale, along with losses from Wisconsin and Purdue, moved them to No. 4 in the conference seeding, as they won a three-way tiebreaker.
One of the strongest defensive teams in the country this season, UCLA allowed a Big Ten-best 65.1 points per game this season. Playing at a slower tempo, the Bruins only scored 74.9 points per game, but they come into the tournament off a 90-63 blowout over USC.
Despite being the lower seed, Wisconsin is favored by 1.5 points in this matchup. Can they get revenge on the Bruins? Or will they go home in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals?