Wisconsin vs. Purdue: how to watch, game preview and open thread

The Wisconsin Badgers (15-10 overall, 8-6 B1G) are in the home stretch of the season now, with an emphasis on “home”. Of their final six games, four of them are in the friendly confines of the Kohl Center starting with Tuesday night’s clash against the Purdue Boilermakers (14-12 overall, 7-8 B1G).

Wisconsin is on a two-game winning streak having beaten Nebraska in Lincoln and Ohio State in Madison, while Purdue has lost two in a row, at Ohio State and home against Penn State. Purdue is one of the few teams in the country that is more of a roller coaster ride than the Badgers this year. They’ve beaten Michigan State and Virginia by 25+ points and also lost to Nebraska and scored 37 points against Illinois. If you say you know which Purdue team is showing up at the Kohl Center you, my friend, are a liar.

This should be a game where we’ll be able to tell what’s going to happen after the first five or so minutes. If the shots are falling for both teams and the turnovers are limited, it should be a fun, competitive game. If only one team is doing these things...that team will probably win by double-digits.

Purdue and Wisconsin both play at a snail’s pace, with PU at No. 336 in adjusted tempo on KenPom and UW at No. 347, and neither team is an offensive dynamo this year either, with PU at No. 45 in AdjO and UW at No. 61. However, as we’ve seen before during this year if the Badgers come out hot they can hit 70 points, which seems to be a good line of demarcation for whether or not your team will win in the B1G.

It is worth noting that “Wisconsin has been held to 57 or fewer points in four of the last five, and five of the last seven, meetings against Purdue,” according to the PU game notes.

How to watch/listen

TV: ESPN, 6 p.m., CT, Dan Shulman, Dan Dakich, Molly McGrath

Streaming: WatchESPN

Radio/Satellite: 1310 AM, Sirius/XM 385; Matt Lepay, Mike Lucas

Live stats: Here!

Arena: Kohl Center, Madison, Wisconsin

Line: Wisconsin -4

KenPom Wisconsin win percentage: 60%

Fun facts (according to the media guides)

• Tuesday’s game will be the 182nd meeting between Wisconsin and Purdue in a series beginning in 1906.
• Purdue holds a 110-71 advantage in the series all-time.
• Wisconsin is 12-5 against the Boilermakers at the Kohl Center and 50-38 in Madison all-time against PU.
• Since the building opened on Jan. 17, 1998, the Badgers are 308-52 (.856) all-time at the Kohl Center, which ranks as the 10th-highest win percentage among NCAA Division I venues.
• Purdue has won the last two match ups against Wisconsin and six of the last seven. Greg Gard is 1-6 against the Boilermakers.
• Last time out the Boilers out-rebounded UW 42-16, including 16-2 on the offensive glass. The Badgers also missed their first 11 3-point shots before finishing 7-for-22 from deep.

• Brad Davison, coming off a 30-point explosion against Nebraska, has led the team in scoring four times this season and the Badgers are 4-0 in those games. In his career he’s led them in scoring 18 times and the Badgers are 13-5.
• Only Ethan Happ, Devin Harris and Nigel Hayes have more career 30-point games than Davison’s two.
• Purdue is 9-2 when scoring at least 70 points this year (losses to Michigan and Penn State), but is just 5-10 when being held under 70 points.
• Since the 2005-06 season, Purdue has five wins at the Kohl Center, the most of any visiting team.

Probable starters

Wisconsin

• D’Mitrik Trice, redshirt junior, guard, No. 0
• Aleem Ford, redshirt junior, forward, No. 2
• Micah Potter, redshirt junior, forward, No. 11
• Brad Davison, junior, guard, No. 34
• Nate Reuvers, junior, forward, No. 35

Purdue

• Eric Hunter Jr., sophomore, guard, No. 2
• Jahaad Proctor, senior, guard, No. 3
• Evan Boudreaux, senior, forward, No. 12
• Nojel Eastern, junior, guard, No. 20
• Trevion Williams, sophomore, forward, No. 50