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No.24 Wisconsin Badgers prepare for road test against desperate Ohio State Buckeyes

The Badgers look for a season sweep of the Ohio State Buckeyes, as Wisconsin begins its closing stretch towards the postseason.
Benjamin Worgull|
Ohio State forward Amare Bynum (1) scores on Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter (31) during the first half of their game Saturday, January 31, 2026 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
Ohio State forward Amare Bynum (1) scores on Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter (31) during the first half of their game Saturday, January 31, 2026 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

Ranked for the first time since November after consecutive wins over top-10 programs, No.24 Wisconsin continues its road heavy stretch by traveling to Columbus to take on Ohio State tonight at the Schottenstein Center.

With three weeks until the start of the Big Ten tournament, Wisconsin had put itself in contention for a double bye after having won nine of its last 11 games. The Badgers haven't had a bye into the quarterfinals since 2011 when it won a share of the regular season title.

Ohio State is in a different situation. Sitting in a tie for eighth place in the league, the Buckeyes are coming off a 70-66 loss to No. 15 Virginia on Saturday night in Nashville. It dropped the Buckeyes to 0-8 in Quad-1 games and has them teetering on the fringe of the NCAA Tournament.

Here is a look at both teams, along with a prediction for tonight's contest.

No.24 Wisconsin (18-7, 10-4 Big Ten) vs. Ohio State (16-9, 8-6 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Tuesday, February 17, 7:30 p.m.
Arena – Schottenstein Center
TV – FS1 (Jason Benetti and Bill Raftery)
Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch)
Coaches - Greg Gard at Wisconsin (231-124 in his 11th season). Jake Diebler (41-27 in his 3rd season)
Series – Ohio State leads 95-81; UW leads 56-27 in Columbus
Point Spread – Wisconsin -1.5

Wisconsin probable starters

2 Nick Boyd (6-3 Senior Guard, 20.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.7 apg)
7 Andrew Rohde (6-6 Senior Guard, 6.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.8 apg)
25 John Blackwell (6-4 Junior Guard, 18.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.4 apg)
31 Nolan Winter (6-11 Junior Forward, 13.7 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 1.7 apg)
32 Aleksas Bieliauskas (6-10 Freshman Forward, 4.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.7 apg)
Off the bench
0 Braeden Carrington (6-5 Senior Guard, 7.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 0.9 apg)
5 Jack Janicki (6-5 Sophomore Guard, 2.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.1 apg)
22 Austin Rapp (6-10 Sophomore Forward, 9.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.7 apg)
23 Will Garlock (7-0 Freshman Center, 1.0 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.9 apg)
Player to watch
Named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second time this year on Monday, Boyd has eclipsed 20 points in 16 of 25 games - second-most in the league

Ohio State probable starters

1 Amare Bynum (6-8 Freshman Forward, 9.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.0 apg)
2 Bruce Thornton (6-2 Senior Guard, 19.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.7 apg)
3 Taison Chatman (6-4 R-Sophomore Guard, 4.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.7 apg)
13 Christoph Tilly (7-0 Senior Center, 11.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.3 apg)
21 Devin Royal (6-6 Junior Guard, 13.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.3 apg)
Off the bench
*-0 John Mobley Jr. (6-2 Sophomore Guard, 16.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.8 apg)
4 Gave Cupps (6-2 R-Sophomore Guard, 1.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 1.2 apg)
6 Puff Johnson (6-8 Graduate Guard/Forward, 3.0 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.0 apg)
7 Ivan Njegovan (7-2 Sophomore Center, 2.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.7 apg)
*-likely out with a hand injury
Player to watch
Bynum led the Buckeyes with 18 points and seven rebounds, shooting 6-of-12 from the field in the first meeting this season against Wisconsin.

Series notes

Wisconsin has won four straight and six of the last seven games against OSU. That includes a 92-82 win earlier this season on Jan. 31 in Madison.

The Badgers have won two in a row and four of their last five visits to the Schottenstein Center.

Under head coach Greg Gard, Wisconsin is 11-5 all-time against the Buckeyes. That includes a mark of 4-2 at Columbus.

Wisconsin has held OSU under 70 points in six of the last seven meetings. The Badgers have won 12 of the last 13 when holding the Buckeyes below 70.

In this season's earlier meeting, the Badgers scored their most points vs. OSU since a 94-92 overtime win in 2002. Last time UW went for 92+ in regulation game vs. the Buckeyes was a 92-78 win in 1985.

Nolan Winter and John Blackwell are the only two Badgers that played in UW's last visit to Ohio State. Winter had seven points and two rebounds in 11 rebounds while Blackwell posted three points and a rebound in 11 minutes.

Wisconsin notes

The Badgers are averaging 11.2 3FGs per game, which leads the Big Ten and ranks 9th in the NCAA.

UW's 17 games with 10+ triples rank second in school history as only last year's team (20) recorded more double-digit 3-point games than this year's squad.

The Badgers rank 11th in the country in attempted 3-pointers, averaging 31.7 attempts per game. That mark leads the Big Ten Conference.

This season UW is shooting 77.8 percent from the charity stripe, which ranks fourth in the Big Ten Conference and 16th nationally. It also would be the third-best clip in UW history.

Ohio State notes

Chatman made his first collegiate start in place of Mobley on Saturday night and finished with four points. He has scored over 50 points in the last six games. He scored 14 points at Wisconsin last month, making all four of his three-point attempts.

Thornton is one of just five players nationally (and the shortest of the five) to average 19.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game this season.

Tilly has 57 assists this season, which is the most by a Buckeye big man since Kaleb Wesson had 60 assists in the 2019-20 season. As for Buckeyes 7-foot and taller, only Brad Sellers has had more than Tilly. Sellers had 53 assists as a senior in the 1985-86 season.

After going 4-5 in one-possession games last season, Ohio State is 2-3 in those games this year.

Prediction

The only ranked team Wisconsin will see on the box score is themselves until the final game of the regular season. That doesn't make the next stretch any less critical for UW as it begins to position itself for the postseason.

The Badgers have four more Quad-1 opportunities and four of six on the road, which makes tonight just as important for UW as the last week's games.

Ohio State is 0-5 against KenPom top 40 teams and 0-6 against top-25 teams. Two of those were double-digit losses to Michigan, but the other four were by a total of 16 points. The Buckeyes have Michigan State, Purdue, and a road game to Iowa coming up, so this game carries a lot of weight for the home team.

The Buckeyes are unlikely to have Mobley Jr due to a hand injury, which will allow Wisconsin to move its resources to others. UW made life difficult for Mobley in Madison, holding him to 4-for-12 from the floor and 1-for-8 from three-point range.

Bynum (18 points on 12 shots) and Thornton (18 points on 6-for-11) generated offense in the first meeting but not many others, as UW held Ohio State to 40 percent shooting, Royal to 5-for-13, and Tilly to 0-for-8.

Better defense has been a trend for Wisconsin over the last month, which has played better connected defensively in holding four of the last seven opponents to no better than 41 percent shooting and five of the last seven under 40 percent from three. The only opponent who really soared above that mark - Illinois and its top-ranked efficient offense - struggled in crunch time against UW.

Expect Wisconsin to get Ohio State's best effort in a game the Buckeyes need to have, but the Badgers have momentum and a guard combo playing with a lot of swagger who picked a part Ohio State less than three weeks ago. Ohio State is 0-5 against KenPom top40 teams and the Badgers haven't lost to a team outside the top 50 in adjusted defensive efficiency this season (OSU is No.71). That's hard to pick against.

Prediction: Wisconsin by nine
Worgull's Prediction: 19-6 (14-11 ATS)
Points off Prediction: 274 (11.0 ppg)

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Benjamin Worgull
BENJAMIN WORGULL

Benjamin Worgull has covered Wisconsin men's basketball since 2004, having previously written for Rivals, USA Today, 247sports, Fox Sports, the Associated Press, the Janesville Gazette, and the Wisconsin State Journal.

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