NFL Tickets
TV Schedule: Friday Mar. 18, 6:50 pm ET, TNT
Arena: Scottrade Center-St. Louis, Mo.
Line: Wisconsin (-2)-Vegas Insider.com
Before losing their regular season finale and the first Big Ten Tournament game, the Wisconsin Badgers were one of the hottest teams in the country. Starting with an upset of Michigan State on Jan. 17, the Badgers won 11 of 12 games to climb the conference standings and offer a solid NCAA tournament resume that seemed far-fetched early in the season.
Three losses in their final four regular season games put the Pitt Panthers firmly on the tournament bubble, but their win over Syracuse in the conference tournament effectively gave them an at-large bid.
What To Watch For: Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s surge during conference play coincided with Nigel Hayes stepping up his offensive game, as he had four 20-plus point games in a six-game stretch from Jan. 17-Feb. 10. The junior forward is most important player for the Badgers on both ends of the floor.
An unexpected star for Wisconsin this year is redshirt freshman Ethan Happ, who was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year by coaches and media. He is averaging team-highs in rebounds (7.8) and steals (1.8) per game, along with 12.1 points per game (third on the team), and he’ll have to play well against a tough Panthers frontcourt.
Junior guard Bronson Koenig and junior forward Vitto Brown will be key players for the Badgers on Friday night. Koenig is second on the team in scoring (13.4 points per game), but he is just 5-for-18 from beyond the arc over the last three games and will need to get back on track against Pitt. Brown stepped into a bigger role this year, averaging 9.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, and he is on an upward trend with at least 12 points in three of the last four games.
What To Watch For: Pitt
Three of Pitt’s top four scorers are frontcourt players (Michael Young, Jamel Artis, Sheldon Jeter), with James Robinson (10.3 points per game, third on the team) as the only outlier.
Cameron Johnson has not seen much action this season (11.6 minutes per game), but he has played more than 20 minutes in each of his last three games and led the team with 24 points against Syracuse in the ACC tournament. The freshman guard is a potential x-factor for the Panthers on Friday night.
Little things will matter in this game, which I expect to be close throughout. If one of the stars on either team gets into foul trouble, that would tip the scales.
Prediction: Wisconsin 65, Pitt 63
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