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Wisconsin Badgers hosts a deep Rutgers team with strong defensive principles

Wisconsin Badgers play four of their next five at home to end January, beginning with hosting Rutgers this afternoon.
Benjamin Worgull|
Jan 11, 2026; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Tariq Francis (0) goes to the basket against the Northwestern Wildcats during overtime at Jersey Mike's Arena.
Jan 11, 2026; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Tariq Francis (0) goes to the basket against the Northwestern Wildcats during overtime at Jersey Mike's Arena. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

Playing four of its next five at home, Wisconsin takes on Rutgers at the Kohl Center this afternoon in the only regular season meeting between the two teams this season.

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

Rutgers (9-8, 2-4 Big Ten) vs. Wisconsin (12-5, 4-2 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Saturday, January 17, 1 p.m.
Arena – Kohl Center
TV – BTN (Lisa Byington and Shon Morris)
Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Charlie Wills)
Coaches - Greg Gard at Wisconsin (225-122 in his 11th season). Steve Pikiell (156-148 in his 10th season, 348-304 in his 21st overall season)
Series – Wisconsin leads 12-6; UW leads 6-2 in Madison.
Point Spread – Wisconsin -15.5

Wisconsin probable starters

2 Nick Boyd (6-3 Senior Guard, 19.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.4 apg)
7 Andrew Rohde (6-6 Senior Guard, 6.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.5 apg)
25 John Blackwell (6-4 Junior Guard, 18.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.1 apg)
31 Nolan Winter (6-11 Junior Forward, 14.1 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 1.7 apg)
32 Aleksas Bieliauskas (6-10 Freshman Forward, 4.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.8 apg)
Off the bench
0 Braeden Carrington (6-5 Senior Guard, 6.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.0 apg)
5 Jack Janicki (6-5 Sophomore Guard, 2.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.1 apg)
22 Austin Rapp (6-10 Sophomore Forward, 9.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.9 apg)
23 Will Garlock (7-0 Freshman Center, 1.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.1 apg)
Player to watch
Blackwell was named Naismith Player of the Week (1/12/26) after leading UW with 26 points during its win at Michigan. During UW's three-game winning streak, Blackwell has averaged 23.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg and 3.67 apg. He's averaged 19.0 points in three games against Rutgers.

Rutgers probable starters

1 Jamichael Davis (6-2 Junior Guard, 7.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.6 apg)
3 Kaden Powers (6-4 Freshman Guard, 5.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 1.0 apg)
4 Bryan Dortsch (6-9 Sophomore Forward, 2.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.1 apg)
5 Darren Buchanan Jr. (6-7 R-Junior Guard, 7.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.5 apg)
13 Harun Zrno (6-7 Freshman Guard, 6.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.5 apg)
Off the bench
0 Tariq Francis (6-1 Junior Guard, 15.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.3 apg)
9 Dylan Grant (6-8 Sophomore Forward, 12.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 0.5 apg)
11 Chris Nwuli (6-8 Freshman Forward, 2.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.6 apg)
21 Emmanuel Ogbole (6-10 Senior Center, 4.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 0.2 apg)
27 Denis Badalau (6-8 Freshman Forward, 4.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
Player to watch
Francis has scored in double figures 11 times this season and has scored at least 17 points eight times. He's averaged 22.6 points over the six games coming off the bench, including three 30-point performances.

Series notes

The teams have split the last six meetings.

Wisconsin is 9-6 against Rutgers since joining the Big Ten in 2014-15. The teams matched up three times prior to RU joining the Big Ten (1949, 2003, 2004), all Wisconsin wins.

Greg Gard has gone 9-5 against Rutgers.

UW is a perfect 9-0 when scoring more than 65 points against Rutgers and 10-2 when holding the Scarlet Knights to 65 or fewer points.

A win on Saturday would match UW's longest winning streak against the Scarlet Knights (3 - 1949-2004, 2016-17).

Wisconsin notes

Wisconsin is getting to the line at a rate not seen in Madison in over 50 years, averaging 22.3 FTAs per game. The Badgers are converting 17.1 free throws per game, which would be the best mark since UW averaged 17.8 free throws per game during the 1971-72 season.

The Badgers are averaging 10.5 3FGs per game, which ranks second in the Big Ten Conference and ranks 26th in the country. The Badgers rank 15th in the country in attempted 3-pointers, averaging 30.9 attempts per game. That mark ranks second in the Big Ten Conference, only behind Nebraska (31.1).

Boyd is posting one of the best seasons by a Badger point guard since 1990-91 as his 19.2 PPG average is the second-best by a Badger guard in that era. Devin Harris averaged 19.5 points during the 2003-04 season.

Carrington hit seven three-pointers in Wisconsin's win Tuesday at Minnesota. He is one of just 18 Badgers all-time to hit at least seven treys in a game and hit the most threes for a Badger since Brad Davison had eight at Nebraska on 2/15/20.

Rutgers notes

Rutgers sits at No.156 in KenPom, having an adjusted offensive efficiency ranked 180th and a defensive efficiency ranked 137th. The Scarlet Knights are No.164 in the NCAA NET rankings, holding an 0-7 record against Quad 1 and Quad 2 and a 9-1 record against Quad 3 and Quad 4.

Rutgers made a season-high 30 free throws against Oregon, shooting 30-of-34 from the line for a season-high 88.2 percent. Rutgers opened the game 10-of-10 and 22-of-23 from the free throw line.

Davis is shooting a career-high 40.4 percent from three-point range and is playing a career-high 27.9 minutes per game, which leads the team.

Powers has started the last three games for the Scarlet Knights after getting his first career start in the overtime win against Oregon. He has two double-digit scoring games this season (13 vs. Michigan, 12 vs. Illinois) and has score nine points in three games (Delaware State, Ohio State and most recently Northwestern)

Prediction

The rest of January prevents a golden opportunity for Wisconsin to pad its resume and to potentially earn victories against teams with similar NCAA Tournament profiles. After playing Rutgers, the Badgers travel to Penn State (winless in the Big Ten) before hosting two Quad-2 games and a Quad-3 game in a week (USC, Minnesota, and Ohio State). It's a chance to parlay its current momentum into a solid winning streak heading into a challenging February.

But it starts first with Rutgers, a Scarlet Knights team that is playing noticeably better in January than it was in December. Pikiell and Gard can share team-building notes, considering Rutgers has struggled to build cohesion between the four returning players and all the news faces on its roster. The Scarlet Knights won their first four for the first time since 2020, lost six of their next seven, and comes into this afternoon having won four of six.

One thing Pikiell has figured out is bringing Francis off the bench is a right move for his team. The junior had 23 of his 30 points after halftime on Sunday in Rutgers' overtime win against Northwestern, his third 30-point game since Dec.20. Since 1996-97, Francis is the only Big Ten player with two or more games of 30 points off the bench in the same season. The last major conference player to do it was Arkansas’ Jannero Pargo in the 2001-02 season.

Rutgers' bench group goes deep. The Scarlet Knights played 11 players against Northwestern, with 10 seeing double-digit minutes. Rutgers had four reserves play at least 18 minutes against Ohio State last week and have used seven different starting lineups on the year, so there's a lot of people to account for.

However, the problem with Rutgers is the Scarlet Knights haven't been intimidating offensively. They rank 276th in scoring (69.8 ppg), 336th in assists (10.7), 339th in effective field goal percentage (45.8), and 343rd in two-point field goal percentage (44.9). Not being able to consistently score the ball or move the ball is problematic, especially when facing a Wisconsin team that hasn't been held under 70 points at home all season.

There shouldn't be any "easy" Big Ten games for the Badgers, but this is one where UW should build a comfortable double-digit lead to allow Gard to go deeper into his bench.

Prediction: Wisconsin by 21
Worgull's Prediction: 14-3 (9-7 ATS)
Points off Prediction: 166 (9.8 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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