Wisconsin vs. Illinois: how to watch and open thread

The Wisconsin Badgers (9-5 overall, 2-1 B1G) continue conference play on Wednesday night against the Illinois Fighting Illini (10-5 overall, 2-2 B1G) at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin has won four games in a row this year and have beaten Illinois 15 (!!!) straight times in their series.

The Badgers will be looking to slow down Illinois’ mammoth freshman center, Kofi Cockburn, and keep Nate Reuvers and Micah Potter out of foul trouble. UW will also have to keep tabs on projected NBA Draft pick Ayo Dosunmu, who is liable to go off at any moment and score 25.

This should be another entertaining B1G match up between two evenly matched teams!

How to watch/listen

TV: BTN, 6:00 8:00 p.m., CT, Cory Provus, Robbie Hummel, Olivia Dekker

Streaming: FOX Sports app

Radio/Satellite: 1310 AM, Sirius 83, XM 83; Matt Lepay, Mike Lucas

Live stats: Here!

Arena: Kohl Center, Madison, Wisconsin

Line: Wisconsin -4.5

KenPom Wisconsin win percentage: 66%

Fun facts (according to the media guides)

• The Badgers have won 15 straight over Illinois, marking the longest all-time win streak of any team against the Illini. 15 straight wins (eight in Madison, seven in Champaign) over Illinois is also UW’s longest-ever win streak vs. a Big Ten opponent. Luckily, there are no recent examples of Illinois beating Wisconsin to end a crazy win streak. Nope.

• Wisconsin and Illinois have met exactly 200 times in a series dating back to 1906. The Illini lead the all-time series, 110-90.
• The Badgers own a 59-39 advantage in Madison, though.
• Reaching 60 points has been an incredible indicator in this series. The first team to score 60 points is 32-1 over the last 15 seasons. The only loss was UW’s 71-64 comeback win on 1/20/07 (ILL led 60-57 with 5:07 left).
• Wisconsin has held Illinois to 70 or fewer points in each of the last 28 match-ups.
• In their last match up, Brad Davison led all scorers with 18 points and Brevin Pritzl had a career-high 10 rebounds.
• Wisconsin enjoyed its most successful decade in program history from 2010 to 2019. The Badgers tallied 248 wins, the team’s highest total of any decade.
• Illinois’ win over Purdue on Sunday night marked the program’s 1,800th all-time victory, as the Fighting Illini became the 18th program to join college basketball’s 1,800-win club.
• Illinois’ defense has allowed an average of just 59.4 points on 38.5% shooting and 28.7% from 3-point range over the last seven games.
• Senior guard Trent Frazier is 21 points away from 1,000 for his career.
• Freshman center Kofi Cockburn has won the B1G Freshman of the Week award five times already this year.

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

Illinois

• Trent Frazier, junior, guard, No. 1
• Ayo Dosunmu, sophomore, guard, No. 11
• Giorgi Bezhanishvili, sophomore, forward, No. 15
• Da’Monte Williams, junior, guard, No. 20
• Kofi Cockburn, freshman, center, No. 21