Wisconsin at Purdue: how to watch and open thread

With Michigan State losing on Thursday night the B1G is officially back to being wide open this year. The Wisconsin Badgers (12-7 overall, 5-3 B1G) will be looking to keep pace with the conference leaders when they travel to Indiana to take on the Purdue Boilermakers (10-9 overall, 3-5 B1G) for a tough road game.

The Boilermakers have had a weird season so far. They’ve blown out Michigan State and defending national champion Virginia but are also only one game above .500 and have lost four of their last five games overall.

Trevion Williams leads the team in both scoring (11.3 ppg) and rebounding (7.5 rpg) but this year’s Purdue team does not have anyone nearly as talented as last year’s team did with Carsen Edwards. They play good defense but their offense has been known to disappear for long periods of time. Remind you of any team you know?

This should be a good, old-fashioned, B1G rock fight that everyone will hate except for the fans of the two teams playing because, well, we have to watch.

How to watch/listen

TV: FS1, 6:00 p.m., CT, Brandon Gaudin, Stephen Bardo

Streaming: FOX Sports Go

Radio/Satellite: 1310 AM, Sirius/XM 380; Matt Lepay, Mike Lucas

Live stats: Here!

Arena: Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana

Line: Wisconsin +4

KenPom Wisconsin win percentage: 40%

Fun facts (according to the media guides)

• Purdue owns a 109-71 series advantage with Wisconsin, including a 13-9 record under coach Matt Painter.
• The series is tied at 5-5 over the last 10 games but is at 1-4, with Wisconsin having the one, over the last five games.
• UW is seeking its first win at Mackey Arena since 2014.
• The Badgers have won just 4 games at Mackey Arena, owning a record of 4-40 in that building.
• Purdue has announced sellouts for all of its game this year with merely single tickets remaining for Penn State and Rutgers. A grand total of about 60 tickets remain for the season.
• Friday’s game will be the 500th game coached by head coach Matt Painter at Purdue, becoming the third Purdue coach to reach that mark (Ward “Piggy” Lambert, Gene Keady).
• The Badgers need this win to get to .500 on the road since Greg Gard became coach.
• Since Gard took over at Wisconsin, the Badgers are one of just three Big Ten teams with a .490 record or better in true road games.

Probable starters

Wisconsin

• D’Mitrik Trice, redshirt junior, guard, No. 0
• Aleem Ford, redshirt junior, forward, No. 2
• Kobe King, redshirt sophomore, guard, No. 23
• Brad Davison, junior, guard, No. 34
• Nate Reuvers, junior, forward, No. 35

Purdue

• Eric Hunter Jr., sophomore, guard, No. 2
• Nojel Eastern, junior, guard, No. 20
• Matt Haarms, junior, center, No. 32
• Trevion Williams, sophomore, forward, No. 50
• Sasha Stefanovic, sophomore, guard, No. 55