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Penn State may be winless in the Big Ten but has the talent to knock off Wisconsin

Wisconsin plays in historic Rec Hall for the first time since 1996 to take on a young, hungry Penn State team.
Benjamin Worgull|
Jan 13, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Wisconsin Badgers forward Nolan Winter (31) shoots over Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (5) during the second half at Williams Arena.
Jan 13, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Wisconsin Badgers forward Nolan Winter (31) shoots over Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (5) during the second half at Williams Arena. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

Wisconsin plays its final road game in January in an unfamiliar venue, taking on last place Penn State at Rec Hall tonight. It will be the Badgers first visit to the venue since 1996.

Here is a look at both teams and a prediction for tonight's contest.

Wisconsin (13-5, 5-2 Big Ten) vs. Penn State (9-9, 0-7 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Thursday, January 22, 6 p.m.
Arena – Rec Hall
TV – FS1 (Noah Reed and Calbert Cheaney)
Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch)
Coaches - Greg Gard at Wisconsin (226-122 in his 11th season). Mike Rhoades (41-41 in his third season, 217-154 in his 12th overall season)
Series – Wisconsin leads 44-13; UW leads 19-9 in State College
Point Spread – Wisconsin -5.5

Wisconsin probable starters

2 Nick Boyd (6-3 Senior Guard, 19.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.7 apg)
7 Andrew Rohde (6-6 Senior Guard, 6.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.6 apg)
25 John Blackwell (6-4 Junior Guard, 18.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.1 apg)
31 Nolan Winter (6-11 Junior Forward, 14.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.7 apg)
32 Aleksas Bieliauskas (6-10 Freshman Forward, 4.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 0.7 apg)
Off the bench
0 Braeden Carrington (6-5 Senior Guard, 6.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.9 apg)
5 Jack Janicki (6-5 Sophomore Guard, 2.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.1 apg)
22 Austin Rapp (6-10 Sophomore Forward, 8.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.7 apg)
23 Will Garlock (7-0 Freshman Center, 1.2 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.1 apg)
Player to watch
Blackwell earned his second Big Ten Player of the Week honor on Monday after averaging 23 points. 5.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists while also hitting a buzzer-beater vs. Minnesota.

Penn State probable starters

3 Ivan Juric (7-0 Freshman Forward, 9.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.6 apg)
4 Kayden Mingo (6-3 Freshman Guard, 15.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.5 apg)
7 Dominick Stewart (6-5 Sophomore Forward, 6.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.4 apg)
10 Josh Reed (6-8 Senior Forward, 8.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.1 apg)
11 Eli Rice (6-8 R-Sophomore Guard, 7.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.2 apg)
Off the bench
1 Mason Blackwood (6-7 Freshman Forward, 2.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.4 apg)
5 Freddie Dilione V (6-5 R-Junior Guard, 13.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.5 apg)
9 Melih Tunca (6-5 Freshman Guard, 9.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.7 apg)
16 Tibor Mirtič (6-9 Freshman Forward, 3.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.7 apg)
Player to watch
Mingo is the only freshman in the country averaging 15+ points, 4+ assists, 3.5+ rebounds, and 2+ steals (2.4 spg) per game through games on Jan. 19.

Series notes

UW has won five of the last seven against Penn State and 18 of the last 21 dating back to 2012.

The Badgers are 2-2 all time at Rec Hall, the site of Thursday's game. It will be their first game at Rec Hall since Jan. 7, 1996.

The Badgers are 11-3 against Penn State under head coach Greg Gard.

The Nittany Lions are going for their first three game win streak against Wisconsin since Jan. 26, 1995 to Jan.7, 1996.

Penn State's two most recent wins over the Badgers were when Wisconsin ranked in the top 15 of the Associated Press poll.

Badgers’ assistant coach Sharif Chambliss played three seasons at Penn State (2001-03) before transferring to UW for his senior season in 2005. Chambliss was the Nittany Lions leading scorer in both 2002 and 2003, scoring 851 points in his three seasons in State College.

Wisconsin notes

Even while playing at the fastest pace in decades, Wisconsin has maintained its reputation for taking care of the ball. Wisconsin is 22nd in the country in turnover percentage with a 14.2 percentage clip.

The Badgers are converting 17.6 free throws per game, which would be the best mark since UW averaged 17.8 free throws per game during the 1971-72 season.

Boyd ranks fourth in the Big Ten in scoring at 19.9 ppg. Since 2000, UW has only had four players avg. 19.0+ ppg: Devin Harris, Alando Tucker, Johnny Davis and John Tonje. All four were All-Americans.

Winter's eight double-doubles in only 18 games are the sixth-most by a Badger since since the 2004-05 season.

Penn State notes

The Nittany Lions feature 10 new players this season. Penn State returns just 14.6 percent of points, 11.0 percent of rebounds, 12.5 percent of assists and 15.5 percent of minutes played from last season.

Six different players have led Penn State in scoring this season (Mingo - 6), seven with double-digit points (Dilion V and Mingo - 9), nine in rebounds (Dilion V - 6), and five in assists (Mingo - 11).

Jurić leads the team with a 56.0 (56-100) field goal percentage, owning seven double-digit scoring efforts and put together a career-best 20-point performance against No.2 Michigan on Jan. 6.

Rice leads the Nittany Lions with a 44.8 three-point field goal percentage (30-67). His scoring (+6.6), field goal percentage (+8.6%), and rebounds (+0.9) have all increased over his last six games as his minutes have gone up.

Prediction

Be wary of this one.

Yes, Penn State is still seeking its first Big Ten win of the season and its first victory outside Quad-4, but the Nittany Lions have already faced four of the league's top teams and have an average margin of defeat of 5.5 points.

The Nittany Lion roster is young - the 10th-most inexperienced roster in Division I per Bart Torvik's experience metric - but play hard and smart. Penn State leads the Big Ten with 7.5 steals per game, rank ninth nationally in fewest turnovers per game (9.2) and are in the top 40 nationally in fewest fouls per game (15.5).

Mingo has scored in double figures in 13 of 15 games, including two 20-plus point efforts, and leads the Big Ten with 2.4 steals per game. His pairing with Dilione V, Penn State's only returning starter, has brought the best out of both players, considering Dilione V has increased his scoring, shooting, rebounding and passing from a season ago while decreasing his turnovers.

Wisconsin has to be able to defend better than it did in the second half against Rutgers because the Badgers can exploit the Penn State' defense. The Nittany Lions rank 203rd in adjusted defensive efficiency, are next to last in scoring defense, and last in rebounding (30.4). Against a Maryland team that has similar rebounding numbers to Wisconsin, Penn State was outrebounded 39-21.

UW's scoring defense is only 0.6 points better than Penn State, so the Badgers will need a complete 40 minutes in what will be an intimate White-Out environment at Rec Hall.

The Badgers should feel elated if they can survive this one, which I believe they will by a slim margin.

Prediction: Wisconsin by six
Worgull's Prediction: 15-3 (9-8 ATS)
Points off Prediction: 178 (9.9 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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