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Preview: Wisconsin Badgers will face their toughest defensive test to date in SIUE

No.23 Wisconsin Badgers wrap up its season-opening four-game homestand tonight when it faces SIUE at the Kohl Center.
Benjamin Worgull|
Ball State guard Juwan Maxey (3, left) and Wisconsin guard Nick Boyd (2) vie for a rebound during the first half of their game Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
Ball State guard Juwan Maxey (3, left) and Wisconsin guard Nick Boyd (2) vie for a rebound during the first half of their game Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

MADISON, Wis. - Looking to extend one of the conference's longest winning streaks, No.23 Wisconsin wraps up its four-game homestand when it faces Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) at the Kohl Center tonight.

Winning its first three games of the season by at least 25 points, the Badgers (4-0) extended their nonconference home winning streak to 15 games. That's currently the fourth longest active streak in the conference behind Purdue (36), Rutgers (20), and Michigan State (16).

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

SIUE (3-1, 0-0 Ohio Valley) vs. No.23 Wisconsin (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten)


Date/Time – Monday, November 17, 7 p.m.

Arena – Kohl Center

Television – Big Ten Network (Jeff Levering and Brian Butch)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Charlie Wills)

Coaches - Greg Gard at Wisconsin (216-117 in his 11th season). Brian Barone at SIUE (89-104 in his seventh season).

Series – Wisconsin leads 2-0 (6-0 in Madison)

Point Spread – Wisconsin -25.5

Wisconsin probable starters

2 Nick Boyd (6-3 Senior Guard, 19.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.3 apg)

7 Andrew Rohde (6-6 Senior Guard, 7.7 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 2.7 apg)

22 Austin Rapp (6-10 Sophomore Forward, 10.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.3 apg)

25 John Blackwell (6-4 Junior Guard, 18.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.3 apg)

31 Nolan Winter (6-11 Junior Forward, 16.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 2.0 apg)

Off the bench

0 Braeden Carrington (6-5 Senior Guard, 6.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.7 apg)

5 Jack Janicki (6-5 Sophomore Guard, 3.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)

23 Will Garlock (7-0 Freshman Center, 1.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 2.3 apg)

32 Aleksas Bieliauskas (6-10 Freshman Forward, 4.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.7 apg)

Player to watch
Wisconsin's bench is averaging 27.5 points over the last two games. Against Ball State, Carrington scored a season-high 12 points (all coming in the second half) as he shot 4-of-6 from the field in 17 minutes.

SIUE probable starters

0 Ring Malith (6-9 Senior Guard/Forward, 17.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.0 apg)

1 Jordan Pickett (6-3 Junior Guard, 5.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.5 apg)

5 Jack Campion (5-11 Senior Guard, 6.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 4.3 apg)

21 Myles Thompson (6-7 Senior Forward, 11.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.0 apg)

34 Arnas Sakenis (7-1 Senior Center, 2.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.0 apg)

Off the bench

4 Darrion Baker (6-8 Sophomore Forward, 4.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.8 apg)

7 Darius Robinson Jr. (6-1 Senior Guard, 5.3 ppg, 0.5 rpg, 0.5 apg)

33 Jo Valrie (6-5 Senior Forward, 9.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 0.5 apg)

Player to watch
Fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring, Malith has led SIUE in scoring in all four games so far. He scored 20 points, including the game-winning jump shot with one second left, to lead SIUE to a 61-59 win at Drake on Friday.

Series notes

The Badgers have won both previous meetings against the Cougars. UW won, 88-58, the most recent matchup on Nov.18, 2008, as Jon Leuer had a game-high 19 points off the bench on 8-of-10 shooting.

Wisconsin is 13-2 all-time against teams currently in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Badgers' only losses came to Eastern Illinois on Dec.3, 1987, and Western Illinois on Nov.13, 2015.

The Cougars are 0-25 against current members of the Big Ten. The Cougars lost at Indiana (80-61) and at Illinois (90-58) at the beginning of last season.

Wisconsin notes

Dating back to last season, Wisconsin has been ranked 14-straight weeks in the Associated Press Top 25.

A win would give Wisconsin its second-straight 4-0 start and its third in the last four season. It would also be UW's 10th 4-0 start in the last 20 years.

Wisconsin's 279 points scored in its first two games are the fourth most in school history and the most scored since the 1975-76 season.

During the Badgers 15-game home nonconference winning streak, Wisconsin has outscored its opponents on average 83.26 to 63.13. UW also has a pair of ranked wins during the streak including No. 3 Marquette in 2023 and No. 9 Arizona in 2024.

Wisconsin has gone 50-5 in regular-season nonconference matchups under Gard.

SIUE notes

SIUE was picked for a third-place finish by a vote of the league’s coaches and sports information personnel. SIUE received a single first-place vote.

Winning 22 games last season, a program record at the Division-1 level, SIUE won the OVC Tournament and made its first appearance in the Division I NCAA tournament as a 16 seed. The Cougars fell to eventual National runner-up Houston in the first round in Wichita, Kansas.

SIUE is 0-11 against top-25 ranked opponents since moving to Division I in 2008.

In addition to winning the OVC Tournament last season, Malith and Thompson were teammates at Barton Community College, where they won a JUCO National Title in 2024.

Growing up a Badger fan from nearby Milton, Wisconsin, Campion made 88 appearances, including 55 starts over three seasons at Southern Indiana, where he averaged nearly 100 assists per season. He was third in the OVC in assists last year at 4.29 per game.

Prediction

With a rotation built with seven newcomers via high school recruiting and the transfer portal, it's no surprise that Wisconsin's offense has not clicked on all cylinders for a full 40 minutes.

It's still a small sample size, but of 365 Division-1 teams, SIUE is ranked 329th in adjusted offensive efficiency. However, the reason the Cougars have found some early-season success is leaning into their defense.

The Cougars lead the OVC and are 16th in the NCAA in field goal percent defense at 34.6, as well as leading the OVC and ranking 13th in the NCAA in scoring defense at 58.3 points per game.

In Friday's win over Drake, SIUE held Drake to 59 points on 38.3 percent shooting. In four games, SIUE has yet to allow a team to shoot over 39 percent or score more than 64 points. The Cougars forced 17 turnovers against the Sycamores but lost largely due to 15 turnovers and shot a season-worst 34.4 percent from the field.

The eight newcomers on the team (three true freshman and five transfers) have carried on the blueprint of last year's NCAA team that led the conference in points allowed at 66.5 (35th nationally) and was second in the league in field goal percentage defense at 40.2 (20th).

Wisconsin's three opponents so far rank 194th, 336th, and 276th in adjusted defensive efficiency. But while this will be a significant step up, part of the reason those previous teams rank where they do is how potent UW's offense has been.

Led in scoring by a different player in each game, Wisconsin has scored 85 points in each of its first three games, joining the 1975-76 team as the only two to accomplish the feat.

As long as UW can limit extra possessions (the Badgers are tied for 86th nationally in turnovers per game at 11.0), it should stay unbeaten moving into the meat of its nonconference schedule.

Prediction: Wisconsin by 26
Worgull's Prediction: 3-0 (2-1 ATS)
Points off Prediction: 25 (8.3 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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