Preview: No.18 Wisconsin Looks for LA Sweep When It Takes On UCLA

No.18 Wisconsin (15-3, 5-2 Big Ten) vs. UCLA (12-6, 3-4 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Tuesday, January 21, 8:30 p.m.

Arena – Pawley Pavilion (13,800)

Watch – Peacock (Ted Robinson and Darren Collison)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius 106 or 195, stream online on iHeartRadio.

Series – UCLA leads 5-2 (UCLA leads 2-1 in Los Angeles)

Last Meeting – UCLA won, 72-70, on November 21, 2017, in Kansas City, Mo.

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Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: UCLA -3.5

Player to Watch: During UW’s seven-game win streak, Crowl is averaging 15.2 ppg & 6.0 rpg while shooting 71.4 percent (7-15 3FGs).

Player to watch: Bilodeau has scored in double figures in 13 of 18 games, having reached the 20-point plateau in three contests. Last month in New York City, he totaled a career-high-tying 26 points in a loss to North Carolina. He is shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from 3-point distance.

Tuesday will mark the eighth meeting between Wisconsin and UCLA in a series that dates back to 1948, but this will be the first meeting since the Bruins joined the Big Ten.

The Bruins have won the last 5 meetings including neutral wins in the 1995 Maui Invitational and the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic most recently.

UW and UCLA haven’t played at either school’s home site since a 94-53 UCLA win in Los Angeles in 1972.

UW has won 6 straight in Los Angeles, including Saturday’s 84-69 win at USC.

The Badgers have matched their best 18-game start under Greg Gard, also doing so in the Sweet 16 2016-17 season and UW’s 2021-22 Big Ten championship season.

A win at UCLA would be Wisconsin’s sixth-consecutive Big Ten win, the longest conference win streak since ending the 2019-20 season with eight straight Big Ten wins.

The Badgers are 8-3 against the top 2 quadrants of the NET rankings, including 3 Quad 1 wins and zero losses outside of Quad 1.

Wisconsin is 5-2 away from home.

Including a Kohl-Center record 116 points vs. Iowa (1/3) and the 84 points Saturday at USC, Wisconsin had hit at least 80 points in 11 of 18 games, the team’s most since the 2014-15 season (11 times).

The Bruins have gone 8-1 in Pauley Pavilion this season, now in their 59th campaign playing in the longtime UCLA basketball venue.

UCLA has gone 1-4 in January after compiling a 5-1 record through December.

UCLA ranks No. 6 in the nation in turnovers forced per game (17.0) and eighth in turnover margin (+5.1).

The Bruins rank No. 19 in the nation in scoring defense (63.7 ppg), limiting the opposition to 65 points or fewer in eight of 18 games this season.

A Pac-12 All-Defensive team honoree the last two seasons at USC, Johnson has totaled 190 steals in 109 career games (1.74 spg) since traveling this season. The Milwaukee native enters tonight with a team-best 34 steals (Skyy Clark has totaled 23), having registered 1.9 steals per game in 18 contests as a senior

USC coach Eric Musselman is new to the Big Ten and new to playing Wisconsin, but he perfectly encapsulated why this version of the Badgers is giving teams headaches.

“It’s really hard to rotate when you have all red shooters out there,” Musselman lamented. “When they go in the first 7 of 15 (from three), you have to stay attached to the shooters … It’s the first team we’ve played, including Iowa, that we felt had five guys who can all make a three whether they had their starters in or their subs. So you give and take something. You can’t take away the three and the dribble drive unless you are a great defensive team in the NBA. You got to decide what you’re going to do.”

“When you come into a game, you do have to game plan for their leading scorer. Well, he has zero points. I can’t plug 99 holes in a 40-minute game. I’d love to, but I’m not that smart.”

Tonje was held scoreless for the first time in his Wisconsin career, but the Badgers were leading by 15 points at halftime and calmly rebuilt that lead after the Trojans made things interesting in cutting the deficit to three. Blackwell had 28, Klesmit had 18, UW’s starting frontcourt combined for 22 on 9-for-11 shooting, and the bench contributed 17 points and seven assists. Without Tonje’s 18.2 ppg, the Badgers averaged 1.254 points per possession.

“It shows leadership,” Blackwell said. “When Tonje is not scoring, the next man up steps up.”

The Bruins are offensively comparable to the Trojans. Both are separated by 1.23 points in scoring average and 0.4 points in adjusted offensive efficiency, but the Bruins are far superior defensively. UCLA has the top-scoring defense in the conference at 63.72 points per game and is ranked 12th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency. Despite ranking ninth in the league in field goal defense and 12th in three-point defense, the Bruins play a slower tempo (260th nationally) to limit possessions. The Bruins held Iowa on Friday to 70 points (the second-fewest of the season for the league’s top-scoring team), only 1.148 points per possession, and 38.1 shooting percentage in the first half, leading to a 33-point halftime edge.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin has made headlines recently with his comments railing against the conference’s scheduling and the challenges his team is having with traveling to road games and unbalanced days off. But Cronin was blunt with his team entering the Iowa game, saying that they haven’t adequately adjusted to the play in the league compared to the old Pac-12.

“We have struggled in Big Ten basketball,” Cronin said. “Our two wins were against teams we were familiar playing against (Oregon and Washington). The truth of it is, Big Ten basketball is different. It’s a much more physical game.”

UCLA has struggled to defend without fouling (295th nationally in fouls per game (18.5)), isn’t great at rebounding, (averaging a league-worst 22.11 per game), and has struggled guarding pick-and-roll actions

This game sets up well for Wisconsin defensively and should allow the Badgers to expose some things offensively. And considering Tonje is too good of a player to get shutout in consecutive games, the Badgers have a great chance to complete the LA sweep.

Worgull’s Prediction: Wisconsin by seven

Record: 15-3 (13-5 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 149 (8.3 per game)

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