Chicago St. @ Wisconsin preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 17, 2016 ) Chicago St. 51, Wisconsin 69

Wisconsin looks to win three straight games for the first time this season when it hosts Chicago State on Wednesday. The Badgers edged Western Kentucky 81-80 before toppling Green Bay 81-60 on Saturday to improve to 20-0 against in-state opponents and they hope to move back to .500 by beating Chicago State for the third consecutive time.

"We did some really good things that we'll build upon and grow from and obviously learn from areas we need to get better at," Wisconsin coach Greg Gard told reporters. "Very pleased with how hard we played and tried to take what we've been working on over the past eight days." Wisconsin has won the last two matchups with the Cougars by an average margin of 23 points, including a 69-51 victory in the most recent meeting on Nov. 17, 2016. The Badgers have scored over 80 points in back-to-back games after being limited to an average of 55.4 over their previous five contests and hope to continue their hot shooting against a Chicago State squad, which surrendered at least 95 points six times in 2017-18. The Cougars have dropped nine straight games, including three in a row to Big Ten opponents this season, and hope to stop the bleeding by pulling off the upset in Madison.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT CHICAGO STATE (2-13): Senior guard Glen Burns scored a career-high 18 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists, but it wasn't enough as Chicago State suffered an 88-76 setback to SIU Edwardsville. Senior forward Deionte Simmons added 17 points and Jelani Pruitt tallied a season-high 13 as Chicago State allowed SIU Edwardsville to shoot 60.4 percent from the field. Junior guard Fred Sims Jr., registered 12 points but missed 12 of his 16 attempts from the field and is 6-of-36 from the floor over his past three games, while freshman forward C.J. Bowles contributed 10 points.

ABOUT WISCONSIN (6-7): Freshman guard Brad Davison scored 13 of his game-high 18 points in the first half to finish in double figures for the third straight game as the Badgers shot 53.6 percent in the win against Green Bay. "Whenever you can get to the rim its always a good thing," Davison told reporters. "That's our goal to just keep getting better every game and every practice and the result will take care of itself." Junior center Ethan Happ added 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field to go along with eight rebounds while junior swingman Khalil Iverson tallied 12 points against the Phoenix as Wisconsin won the battle of the boards 40-20.

TIP-INS

1. Davison is averaging 18 points over his last three games.

2. Wisconsin has won 13 of its last 14 nonconference home games,

3. Chicago State is 0-10 on the road this season.

PREDICTION: Wisconsin 85, Chicago State 62