Wisconsin Badgers close out the home schedule against injury-plagued Maryland

Entering the final week of the Big Ten regular season, the University of Wisconsin closes out the home portion of the schedule against Maryland, the last conference team it has to face this season, tonight at the Kohl Center.

Wisconsin is coming off its sixth Quad-1 win of the season and is looking for some momentum heading into next week's conference tournament in Chicago, having alternated wins and losses over the past six games.

Maryland has struggled with injuries during Buzz Williams' first season in College Park, although the Terrapins have played better of late by winning three of their last seven games and are looking to avoid having to play on day one of the league tournament.

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

Maryland (11-18, 4-14 Big Ten) vs. Wisconsin (20-9, 13-6 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Wednesday, March 4, 7 p.m.
Arena – Kohl Center
TV – FS1 (Jack Kizer and Donny Marshall)
Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch)
Coaches - Greg Gard at Wisconsin (233-126 in his 11th season). Buzz Williams at Maryland (First season; 384-246 in his 19th season)
Series – Wisconsin leads 15-9; 7-2 in Madison
Point Spread – Wisconsin -13.5

Wisconsin closes out the home schedule tonight against Maryland. Here's how to watch, listen, and stream the game, the betting lines, and things to know for the #Badgers https://t.co/LQeaFFt8Yg
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) March 4, 2026

Wisconsin probable starters

2 Nick Boyd (6-3 Senior Guard, 20.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.0 apg)
7 Andrew Rohde (6-6 Senior Guard, 6.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.8 apg)
25 John Blackwell (6-4 Junior Guard, 18.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.4 apg)
31 Nolan Winter (6-11 Junior Forward, 13.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.6 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, 8.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.0 apg)
13 Hayden Jones (6-6 Freshman Guard, 1.8 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.5 apg)
22 Austin Rapp (6-10 Sophomore Forward, 9.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.6 apg)
Player to watch
Carrington scored a career-high 32 points in Saturday's win at Washington, breaking the school record with nine made three-pointers. He has scored 20 points in two of his last four games off the bench.

For our seniors.
Badgers 🆚 Terrapins
⏰ 7 p.m.
📍 Kohl Center
📺 @FS1
🔗 https://t.co/J8C5gsKSjC pic.twitter.com/HJjuus5A4L
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) March 4, 2026

Maryland probable starters

1 Darius Adams (6-5 Freshman Guard, 10.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.6 apg)
7 Andre Mills (6-4 R-Freshman Guard, 11.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.6 apg)
9 Solomon Washington (6-7 Senior Forward, 10.6 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 1.0 apg)
13 Elijah Saunders (6-8 Senior Forward, 9.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.0 apg)
45 Collin Metcalf (6-9 Senior Center, 1.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 0.2 apg)
Off the bench
8 David Coit (5-11 Graduate Guard, 14.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.8 apg)
12 Isaiah Watts (6-3 Junior Guard, 4.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.8 apg)
18 Guillermo Del Pino (6-5 Freshman Guard, 1.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.6 apg)
Player to watch
In the last 11 games, Mills has averaged a team-best 17.2 points per game, shooting 47.4 percent (65-of-137) overall and 41.8 percent (28-of-67) from deep. That stretch was highlighted by his career-high 39 points at Northwestern.

Golden Gameday in Wisconsin 💛

Gameday Info: https://t.co/UNfVHxD5Vs pic.twitter.com/P4oNTMxytU
— Maryland Men’s Basketball (@TerrapinHoops) March 4, 2026

Series notes

Wisconsin owns a 10-7 lead in the series since Maryland joined the Big Ten in 2015 and has won seven of the last 10 meetings.

The Badgers are 7-2 all-time against Maryland at home, including 6-2 at the Kohl Center.

Wisconsin has won four of the last five home games against the Terrapins, with the only loss coming during the 2020-21 Covid season, during which there were no fans in the Kohl Center.

Maryland's last non-Covid win in Madison (63-60) came on Jan. 9, 2016, in what was Greg Gard's fifth game as head coach. The Badgers would avenge that loss with a 70-57 win at No.2 Maryland later that same season.

Wisconsin is 10-6 against the Terrapins with Greg Gard as head coach, including a record of 5-2 under Gard in Madison.

Senior Day Journey: Isaac Gard is the head coach's son, but he's worked hard at his craft and on the scout team. That's earned him the important title of being "one of the guys." #Badgers https://t.co/eOEUEwbukj
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) March 3, 2026

Wisconsin notes

The Badgers have won at least 12 conference games for the second-straight season (13-7 in 2025-26) and the seventh time under Gard. It is also the 17th time in program history.

Wisconsin scored 90 points on Saturday for the 12th time this season and improved to 18-0 when scoring at least 80 points. The Badgers are 26-0 under Gard when they reach 90 points.

UW is eighth in the country in turnover percentage with a 13.2 percent clip. In 2026, UW is averaging only 8.2 turnovers per game.

Wisconsin has been unbeatable when Boyd and Blackwell each score 20+ in the same game. The Badgers are 8-0 in such games and haven't seen a combo produce like this since the All-Big Ten duo of Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer had seven games while both scoring 20+ in 2010-11.

Wisconsin recruited Braeden Carrington for his defense, but the senior has turned into an important offensive weapon as the #Badgers make their push toward the postseason https://t.co/qgDq0KC42m
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) March 3, 2026

Maryland notes

Of the 16 players on the roster, 15 are new including five true freshmen. Junior guard Lukas Sotell is the lone returner on the 2025-26 roster.

The Terps have had a total of 65 games missed this year due to injury, including leading scorer Pharrel Payne (17.5 ppg), who has missed the last 18 after being injured against Michigan.

Maryland has converted on 245-of-770 attempts from three-point range. The 245 made triples are the seventh most in program history. Next on the list is the 2018-19 squad (247) and the 2020-21 team (253).

Coit’s 1,629 career points rank 43rd among active NCAA players and the 10th most career points among active Big Ten players. He is also the only NCAA Division I player to have 10 career 30-point games.

As he prepares to play his final home game with the #Badgers, senior Nick Boyd's one season at Wisconsin has played out exactly how he hoped it would https://t.co/O2i0sUfQAy
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) March 3, 2026

Prediction

Although leaning in the business under an old-school coach, Wisconsin's Gard has transitioned to the new way of thinking. He's more willing to play players with two fouls in the first half, wants to push the ball to maximize transition and he wants to shoot threes ... a lot of threes.

Building a roster with the perimeter shot in mind, the offense has looked really good when the shots are falling and somewhat clunky when they are not. The last road trip was a perfect exacmple of the two ends of the spectrum.

UW hit only 11 of its school-record 45 three-pointers it attempted (31.1 percent) in a 14-point loss at lowly Oregon a week ago. Three days later, Wisconsin made 17 in a 17-point win at Washington, the most ever in a road game and the fourth-most in school history.

Wisconsin is averaging 11.3 3-pointers per game, which ranks sixth in the country, and has had six different players hit at least four triples in a game this season.

Entering the final week of the regular season, 51.3 percent of its field goal attempts have been threes and slightly rises to 52.0 percent in conference play.

"It's knowing where we're at our optimal best," Gard said. "We look to be close to 50 percent or more of our field goal attempts from three. That varies a little bit from game to game, but by and large on average, around 50 percent. There might be times where we take close to 50. We have taken 45, and I wasn't dissatisfied with that or anything.

"I think it is never about a certain quantity, but the quality of them. Making sure you are taking really good shots, and when we take the right ones, we are very intentional with our potential and about who we put on the floor, and spacing. We speak to the science behind it, too, so we are with the team on it. Here are their why's, and here is why we don't do this."

There's no question UW's ability to hit the three will determine how long the Badgers will play in March. Likely headed for next Thursday's conference tournament quarterfinals, UW has ample opportunities to boost its seeding with multiple upcoming Quad-1 games.

This is not one of them, which is why UW needs to bring its "A" performance in a Quad-3 game against the Terps.

Maryland has beaten one likely NCAA Tournament team this season (home vs. Iowa) and has been held to 70 points or less in nine of the last 11 games. Mills has been playing well over that stretch, but the offense around him has been inconsistent and slow. The Terps rank 225th in adjusted tempo and have shot no better than 40 percent in four of the past five games.

Still, a Terrapins team that was swept recently by Rutgers, still put five players in double figures and shot 53.2 percent against Iowa less than a month ago. That should not be overlooked.

While UW has risen to the occasion against the Illinois, Michigan, and Michigan State schools of the world, the Badgers have almost played down a level at times. If UW does that again tonight, Maryland has enough skill to deal a really ugly loss to UW's tournament profile.

I expect UW to win, and send the seniors out right, but the Badgers can't sleepwalk through this one the way they did out in Eugene.

Prediction: Wisconsin by 19
Worgull's Prediction: 21-8 (16-13 ATS)
Points off Prediction: 344 (11.9 ppg)