Wisconsin @ Nebraska preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 21, 2020 ) Nebraska 68, Wisconsin 82

As the regular season creeps closer to crunch time, Wisconsin looks to capitalize on an opportunity to pick up a Big Ten road win Saturday at struggling Nebraska. The Badgers find themselves among the mass of teams in the middle of the conference standings and could use a victory to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.

Wisconsin has had nearly a week to prepare for Nebraska, which has lost nine in a row, after last playing on Sunday, a 70-59 win over Ohio State at home. After Saturday's game, the Badgers play four of their final six regular-season games at home. Barring an improbable Big Ten Tournament run, Nebraska's postseason hopes evaporated weeks ago in Fred Hoiberg's first season as coach. But the young Cornhuskers have played well at times, most recently on Tuesday night when they nearly pulled off an upset at Big Ten-leading Maryland before a late comeback fell just short in a 72-70 loss.

TIME: 2:15 p.m. ET. TV: Big Ten Network

ABOUT WISCONSIN (14-10, 7-6 Big Ten): Brevin Pritzl made a big impact in Sunday's win over Ohio State with a season-best 19 points, 5-of-6 shooting on 3-pointers and two steals. Aleem Ford just missed a double-double in that game with 10 points and nine rebounds as the Badgers continue to look for production to offset the sudden departure of second-leading scorer Kobe King from the program. Nate Reuvers is the only player with a season scoring average in double figures at 13.7 points per game, despite being limited to nine points by Ohio State.

ABOUT NEBRASKA (7-17, 2-11 Big Ten): Haanif Cheatham was questionable for Tuesday's game at Maryland but made a healthy contribution, scoring 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second-half comeback to boost his season average to 12.2 points per game. Cam Mack added eight assists in the loss to boost his total for the year to 156, making him only the fourth Nebraska player in history with 150 or more in a season, and he leads the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game. The Cornhuskers are not afraid to put up 3-pointers, even when they're missing like they were in a 7-of-33 effort against Maryland that boosted their 3-point shot attempts for the season to a Big Ten-leading 611.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Wisconsin made a school-record 18 3-pointers in an 82-68 victory over Nebraska on Jan. 21 in Madison.

2. Brad Davison has played well for Wisconsin in previous meetings with Nebraska, scoring 14 points in the January victory and averaging 11.6 points and 4.6 rebounds in five career games against the Cornhuskers.

3. Nebraska played without Dachon Burke Jr., its third-leading scorer, in Tuesday's loss to Maryland because of the flu.

PREDICTION: Wisconsin 71, Nebraska 62