Wisconsin at Iowa: how to watch, game preview and open thread

Here we are again! The No. 25 Wisconsin Badgers (16-10 overall, 10-9 Big Ten) have another chance to earn a marquee victory in conference play, today’s lucky contestant is the No. 5 Iowa Haweyes (19-7 overall, 13-6 Big Ten), in the last game of the regular season. UW has lost four of their last five games and are looking to gain any sort of positive momentum they can heading into the Big Ten Tournament.

Iowa, since a weird mid-season swoon, has won six of their last seven and still are playing for conference tournament seeding. A win on Sunday will lock them into the three-seed while a loss would drop them down to the four line. If they stay as the three-seed they’ll likely play six-seed Wisconsin (locked into that spot) in the quarterfinals instead of five-seed Ohio State, whom they have split with this season, if they were to drop down to the four-seed.

The Badgers are just looking for some hope that they have righted the ship after an underwhelming season, based on preseason predictions that may have been over-inflated due to a big end of season run by UW. In their last two games, the Badgers have been close to upsetting Illinois and Purdue but just couldn’t get over the hump.

A Senior Day showdown with Iowa isn’t an ideal spot to try and steal a win, but it is where the Badgers find themselves. Wisconsin will need to try and slow down Garza a little bit and hopefully Micah Potter’s improved defense at the end of the season will help, but the Hawkeyes probably have too many weapons for the Badgers to contend with.

Once more unto the breach, friends, it’s Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball game day.

How to watch/listen

TV: FOX, 11:30 a.m., CT, Adam Amin, Donny Marshall

Streaming: FOX Sports Go

Radio/Satellite: 1310 AM, Sirius/XM 195; Matt Lepay, Mike Lucas

Live stats: Here!

Arena: Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa

Line: Wisconsin +7

KenPom Wisconsin win percentage: 27%

Fun facts (according to the media guides)

• Wisconsin has faced arguably its toughest schedule in school history. Sunday’s game at No. 5 Iowa will mark the 11th Top-25 opponent of the regular season, the most in school history.
• Sunday’s game will mark UW’s 20th game against Quad 1 or Quad 2 competition.
• Under Greg Gard (since 2016), Wisconsin is 8-3 in regular season games in March.
• UW needs one more conference win to clinch a winning Big Ten record for the 21st time in the last 22 years.

• Sunday’s game marks the 169th meeting between Wisconsin and Iowa, in a rivalry that began in 1909. The Badgers lead the all-time series, 85-83.
• Wisconsin has won 16 of the last 25 games against Iowa (dating back to 2006), including wins in seven of its last 13 trips to Iowa City.
• The Hawkeyes have won two in a row, however, including a 15-point demolition of the Badgers earlier this year where Luka Garza was his usual unstoppable self and Wisconsin couldn’t buy a bucket.
• Micah Potter led UW in the game with his fourth double-double of the season (23 pts, 11 reb) in 30 min.
• D’Mitrik Trice had a season-high nine assists to go along with 11 points in the first matchup as well.
• Trice needs one more made three-pointer to tie Ben Brust for second all-time in school history.
• Wisconsin leads the nation averaging only 8.8 turnovers per game.
• The Badgers lead the Big Ten allowing only 63.5 ppg this season.
• Wisconsin assistant Dean Oliver was a three-time, third-team All-Big Ten performer at Iowa (1998-01). Oliver scored 1,561 points in his career and his 561 assists rank No. 3 in Iowa history.
• Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon is the younger brother of two former Badgers, Jason Bohannon (2007-10) and Zach Bohannon (2013-14).

• Five Iowa seniors will be honored prior to Sunday’s game: Austin Ash, Michael Baer, Jordan Bohannon, Luka Garza, and manager Dylan Mihalke.
• Iowa has 11 combined Quad 1 (six) and Quad 2 (five) wins this season.
• Iowa averages 9.5 turnovers per game. The Hawkeyes are on pace to break the school record for turnovers per game in a single season, which is 10.3 set during the 2015-16 season. Iowa ranks first in the country in turnovers per offensive play (11.4%).
• Forward Jack Nunge suffered a season-ending knee injury at Michigan at the end of February. He scored six points and grabbed two offensive rebounds in seven minutes off the bench in the first game between these two teams.
• The Hawkeyes have posted 27 runs of 10-0 or better this season.

Potential Starters

Wisconsin

• D’Mitrik Trice, 6-foot, redshirt senior, guard, No. 0
• Aleem Ford, 6-foot-8, redshirt senior, forward, No. 2
• Tyler Wahl, 6-foot-9, sophomore, forward, No. 5
• Brad Davison, 6-foot-4, senior, guard, No. 34
• Nate Reuvers, 6-foot-11, senior, forward, No. 35

Iowa

• Jordan Bohannon, 6-foot-1, redshirt senior, guard, No. 3
• CJ Fredrick, 6-foot-3, sophomore, guard, No. 5
• Joe Wieskamp, 6-foot-6, junior, forward, No. 10
• Connor McCaffrey, 6-foot-5, redshirt junior, guard, No. 30
• Luka Garza, 6-foot-11, senior, center, No. 55