UCF (4-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. No.19 Wisconsin (5-0, 0-0 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Friday, November 22, 4 p.m. CT

Arena – Colonial Hall at The Greenbrier – White Sulphur Springs, W.V. (1,100)

Watch – CBS Sports Network (Jack Benjamin and Matt McCall)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius XM 372, stream online on iHeartRadio.

Series – First Meeting

Follow Online: The Badgers’ Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin -4.5

Player to Watch: Blackwell scored a career-high 30 points in Monday’s win over UTRGV. Going 11-for-18 (2-5 3FGs) from the field and 6-for-8 from the FT line, Blackwell became the first UW guard to tally 30+ pts and 7+ reb since Johnny Davis on Feb. 15, 2022, at Indiana (30 pts, 12 reb).

Player to watch: In each game this season, Jordan Ivy-Curry has scored at least 15 points and recorded a trio of assists or better. His best game came against Florida Atlantic on Nov. 12, where he scored 22 points, five assists, and two steals. He tied a career-high in steals with four against Tennessee Tech on Tuesday.

In the only meeting between the two schools, Wisconsin won, 90-58, on December 13, 1971. It was the third season of the Knights program when they were known as Florida Tech.

The Badgers are 27-26 against schools currently in the Big 12. Last Friday, UW beat No.9 Arizona, 103-88. The Wildcats moved from the Pac-12 to the conference this summer.

Wisconsin has played only one game in West Virginia, a 69-62 victory at West Virginia in 1971.

Wisconsin is averaging 88.2 ppg this year, which is on pace for its highest scoring average since 1970-71 when they put up a program record 86.3 ppg. The Badgers have not averaged 80+ ppg since the 1971-72 season (80.0 ppg).

UW is taking (25.6 3FGA) and making (10.0) three-pointers, the highest average in both categories since the inception of the 3-point line in 1986-87. The program record for 3FGs per game is 8.6, reached twice in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Despite a large volume of shots from beyond the arc, UW is also getting to the free-throw line. The Badgers lead the NCAA shooting 88.2 percent FT (117-for-132).

The Badgers own a combined record of 30-13 (.698) in November tournaments since 2005. Wisconsin has won six holiday tourneys over the last 19 seasons.

Despite increased scoring, UW continues to take care of the basketball. The Badgers are averaging 9.4 turnovers per game this year.

A tournament victory at The Greenbrier would be the fourth under head coach Johnny Dawkins and the third straight. UCF won The Jacksonville Classic last season and the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship two seasons ago.

In reaching 1,000 career points in Tuesday’s win over Tennessee Tech Darius Johnson joins teammates Ivy-Curry and Sellers in reaching the 1,000-point mark, UCF is one of six Big 12 schools (Arizona, Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech) with a trio of 1,000+ point scorers.

UCF has 11 newcomers on this year’s roster, nine of which are transfers. The Knights are one of 42 schools with 11 or more new additions to this year’s roster. UCF’s transfers on the 2024-25 roster combined for 57.9 points per game last season, led by Ivy-Curry’s 17.1 and Hall’s 16.6. UCF returns five players who contributed 36.0 points per game. Johnson and Sellers combined for 31.1 of those points.

UCF erased an 11-point deficit with seven minutes to go to come from behind to beat No. 13 Texas A&M 64-61 in the season opener. The ranked victory was the 11th in program history and the ninth under Dawkins’ tenure.

UCF beat a program record three ranked opponents during the 2023-24 season, including its highest-ranked win over No.3 Kansas.

One of the biggest takeaways from Monday’s victory was the negative of Wisconsin being out of sync against a smaller lineup. The Badgers looked slow on the defensive end in the first half, as UTRGV averaged 1.556 points per possession and shot 66.7 percent from the floor on its first 27 trips down the floor. The Badgers gave up scoring in transition, open looks at the rim, and weren’t getting out to perimeter shooters. Getting in front of shooters and slowing them down, according to Klesmit, is one of the biggest defensive flaws on this Wisconsin team through five games.

Enter UCF, which does have a 7-2 freshman center in its frontcourt but is led by three older athletic guards of varying size. Ivy-Curry’s nickname is ‘Juice’ for the energy he brings to the offense, having scored at least 15 points with three assists in all four games. Hall has back-to-back 20-point games but also can rebound (12 rebounds against IPFW) and distribute (five assists vs. Tennessee Tech). Johnson has two 20-point games, is shooting over 44 percent from the floor and the perimeter, and had nine steals in four games. This trio can create problems, especially for a UW defense that ranks 81st nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, per kenpom.

Can UW win a shootout away from home without a partisan crowd? The venue is small here with awkward sight lines, so shooting and creating momentum might be challenging. Can the Badgers be better defensively after looking anything but on Monday? UW will likely be able to play bigger with UCF having a 6-7 and 7-2 starter but will head coach Greg Gard choose to go with a smaller lineup sooner if things are going astray? That smaller lineup worked against the Vaqueros, who shot 11-for-31 in the second half.

I’ll wager that an extra day off will be beneficial, and the staff having a chance to correct some of the poor ball screens and hedging mistakes that led to open looks Monday will yield better results this evening.

Worgull’s Prediction: Wisconsin by 10

Record: 4-1(4-1 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 50 (10.0 per game)

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