Wisconsin Basketball: Breaking down every game on the schedule
At Marquette
The Badgers were embarrassed on their home floor by the Golden Eagles last season in an 82-63 beat down.
Marquette looks as though it should be as good, if not better, in 2018-19. Leading scorer Andrew Rowsey has moved on, but other than that head coach Steve Wojciechowski returns most of his big weapons, led by guard Markus Howard (20.4 ppg in 2017-18) and forward Sam Hauser (14.1 ppg). In addition, Wojo brought in a borderline-Top 50 recruit in Sam’s brother, Joey, who had been Wisconsin’s priority target in the 2018 recruiting class, as well as two high-level transfers in guard Joseph Chartouny (Fordham) and forward Ed Morrow (Nebraska).
Of Wisconsin’s first ten games, this is the one I am most concerned about, though I do think these two teams are very evenly matched now that the Badgers are healthy again. It will not be another lopsided affair, but I think that Marquette’s high-powered scoring attack will once again prove to be too difficult for Wisconsin to keep up with. The Golden Eagles take down the Badgers for the second straight season by a single-digit margin.
Savannah State
Wisconsin’s matchup against Savannah State at the Kohl Center will be a welcome respite after a pretty tough stretch of games.
The Tigers lost four of their top five scorers from a team that finished 15-17 and were crushed by an average of 39.4 points against high-majors last season. The program has not had a winning season since 2012-13 playing in the MEAC.
It’s really not worth delving too much more into this matchup. The game should be over by halftime, and anything less than a 30 point margin of victory would be pretty disappointing for Wisconsin.