The Wisconsin basketball team has just 10 games left in their 2020-21 regular season. They have a 13-4 record and are sitting in a tie for second in the Big Ten with Iowa. Both Iowa and Wisconsin are just 1.5 games behind Michigan.
All three teams have a relatively difficult schedule to end the season. Michigan is currently on a 2-week pause due to covid cases at the university, while both Iowa and Wisconsin will face ranked teams in half of their remaining schedule. Wisconsin will also face Michigan once more this year and Iowa twice. There are plenty of opportunities for Wisconsin to get some quality wins and climb to the top of the Big Ten.
It’s going to be a long 10 games and there will surely be plenty of ups and downs along the way. I took a look at each of the Badgers’ remaining games and made a prediction on how they’ll finish out the regular season. The records will be my predictions for each team at the time of the game.
Wisconsin (13-4) @ Penn State (5-7) – January 30
If the Badgers want to repeat as Big Ten champs and get the no. 1 seed for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, they will need to take care of business and beat lesser opponents. Penn St. is an example of one of those teams. They kick off the last third of their schedule with two in a row against the Nittany Lions.
Penn St. will come into their first matchup with a 5-7 overall record and 2-6 in conference play. They are in 13th place in the conference, only ahead of Nebraska. The first game will be at Penn St.
The Nittany Lions are 2-3 in their last five games with wins over Rutgers and Northwestern at home. Penn St. has been staying with most of their opponents. In conference play, the Nittany Lions are losing by an average of just eight points per game. Most recently, they lost to Ohio St. by four in Columbus after being ahead late in the game.
This seems like it will be a lot like the Maryland game. I think Wisconsin will be able to get ahead early but could see them falling into an offensive slump in the second half, allowing Penn St. back into the game. Hopefully, the Badgers learned from that game and will keep their foot on the gas and put teams away when they can.
Penn State’s offense has the ability to put up some points, averaging 76.8 per game. On the flip side, their defense is nothing to write home about. They actually give up the same amount of points per game: 76.8.
The Wisconsin basketball defense should be able to slow down the Nittany Lions’ offensive attack while putting up more than enough points to win.
Penn St. 69 – Wisconsin 78
Wisconsin (14-4) vs. Penn State (5-8) – February 2
With a win against Penn St. just three days before, Wisconsin basketball will welcome the Nittany Lions to the Kohl Center, where the Badgers are 10-2 this season. Penn St., on the other hand, is just 1-5 on the road.
Generally, Badgers play well at home and I don’t see that changing. As long as there is plenty of energy and juice from the Wisconsin bench, the Badgers will be just fine.
I think these two games against Penn St. will give the Badgers some confidence heading into their next few games and will hopefully bump the Badgers back into the top-10.
Wisconsin 82 – Penn St. 66