Wisconsin Basketball: Breaking down every game on the schedule

Purdue

The Badgers are fortunate to have to only see Purdue once this year and the meeting is in the comfy confines of the Kohl Center. It’s a crime we’ll only see Ethan Happ and Carsen Edwards duel once, but it should be a good one. In the early part of the conference slate, this game will give us a good idea of what these two teams are made of as both will be watched closely by other Big Ten foes.

The Badgers handled Purdue last year on Frank Kaminsky night and will have a great chance to again this year. Outside of Edwards, Purdue doesn’t return much. The next four leading scorers from last year’s Boilermakers team have graduated. This is a game the Badgers need to win.

At Maryland

Wisconsin faces yet another five-star freshman big man this year in Maryland’s Jalen Smith. The Terrapins return some interesting talent but are always tough to get a read on. They finished last season on a slide that included losing to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament.

This is the kind of game that a good Wisconsin team competes in and a great Wisconsin team wins. The Badgers get two shots at Maryland this year but winning this game could keep the Badgers on a nice roll as they’ll then have almost a whole week to prepare for Michigan to come to Madison.