Who’s Playing
Wisconsin Badgers @ USC Trojans
Current Records: Wisconsin 14-3, USC 11-6
How To Watch
What to Know
We’ve got another exciting Big Ten matchup on schedule as the Wisconsin Badgers and the USC Trojans are set to tip at 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday at Galen Center. The Badgers are coming into the match hot, having won their last six games.
Wisconsin will head into Tuesday’s game hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big last Friday (they won by 21) but on Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 70-68 win over Ohio State. For those keeping track at home, that’s the closest victory the Badgers have posted since January 23, 2024.
Wisconsin’s success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but John Tonje led the charge by scoring 17 points. Tonje continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last four games he’s played. Steven Crowl was another key player, scoring 14 points along with seven rebounds.
Even though they won, Wisconsin struggled to work together and finished the game with only six assists. That’s the fewest assists they’ve posted since back in February of 2024.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask USC). They came out on top against Iowa by a score of 99-89 on Tuesday. That’s two games straight that the Trojans have won by exactly ten points.
USC got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Saint Thomas out in front who almost dropped a double-double on 24 points and nine rebounds. The dominant performance also gave Thomas a new career-high in field goal percentage (90%). Another player making a difference was Desmond Claude, who almost dropped a double-double on 25 points and nine assists.
Wisconsin pushed their record up to 14-3 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. As for USC, they are on a roll lately: they’ve won six of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Wisconsin hasn’t had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 82.4 points per game. However, it’s not like USC struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 77.5. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Going forward, Wisconsin is expected to win a tight contest, barring any buzzer beaters. This contest will be their seventh straight as the favorites (so far over this stretch they are 4-2 against the spread).
Odds
Wisconsin is a slight 1.5-point favorite against USC, according to the latest college basketball odds.
The oddsmakers had a good feel for the line for this one, as the game opened with the Badgers as a 2.5-point favorite.
The over/under is 151.5 points.
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Series History
Wisconsin won the only game these two teams have played in the last 3 years.
- Nov 25, 2022 – Wisconsin 64 vs. USC 59
