Pittsburgh @ Wisconsin preview
Colonial Hall
Last Meeting ( Mar 18, 2016 ) Pittsburgh 43, Wisconsin 47
The No. 19 Wisconsin Badgers will look to claim the Mountain Division championship of the Greenbrier Tip-Off tournament on Sunday when they take on Pittsburgh in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
The Badgers (6-0) are coming off an 86-70 win over UCF on Friday in the opener of the tourney.
John Blackwell led the way with 17 points and five rebounds. Missouri transfer John Tonje finished with 15 points and six boards.
Head coach Greg Gard liked the way his team played as a unit as it continues to click offensively, putting up 79 or more points in each of its six games. Against the Knights, five Wisconsin players at least three assists in a game for the first time since 2020 as Tonje, Blackwell, Steven Crowell, Max Klesmit and Kamari McGee all achieved that feat.
The Badgers finished with 21 assists as a team and have 95 so far this season.
McGee and Nolan Winter scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Winter also grabbed 10 rebounds for the Badgers.
"It was obviously a good team effort," Gard said in a postgame interview. "A lot of things we'll learn from this game on both sides of the ball."
Still, there is always room for improvement.
"I think we shared it and moved the ball well in spurts," Gard said. "But obviously in November you're still looking to try to continue to improve."
The Panthers are also unbeaten on the season, sporting a 6-0 record and riding the momentum of an impressive 74-63 win over the LSU Tigers on Friday.
Jaland Lowe played a pivotal role in the win, scoring a career-best 22 points and adding eight rebounds, six assists and three steals. Ishmael Leggett added 21 points.
Wisconsin is perfect through six games for the first time since the 2014-15 season when it opened with seven straight wins and went on to play for the national championship.
The Badgers are averaging 87.8 points per game and allowing 71.0. Tonje is the leading scoring threat at 21.3 points per game. He's also pulling down 5.2 rebounds per outing.
Blackwell and Klesmit also average double figures for the Badgers at 16.3 and 13.3, respectively.
Pittsburgh is 6-0 for the first time since the 2018-19 season and has won each game by double figures.
Leggett and Lowe have been key players in that strong start. Leggett is averaging 18.2 points and 6.3 boards per contest. Lowe is pouring in 15.0 points per game.
Damian Dunn and Cameron Corhen also boast double-digit scoring averages, with Dunn averaging 13.0 points and Corhen scoring 12.8 points per outing.
--Field Level Media