Illinois @ Wisconsin preview
Kohl Center
Last Meeting ( Jan 23, 2019 ) Wisconsin 72, Illinois 60
No. 23 Wisconsin looks to bounce back from a difficult week when it hosts Illinois on Monday in a Big Ten game. The Badgers came into their showdowns with seventh-ranked Michigan and No. 12 Michigan State riding a six-game winning streak, but suffered a pair of setbacks to the Wolverines (61-52) and Spartans (67-59) to fall three games off the pace in the race for the conference title, and hope to get back on track by beating the surging Illini for the 15th consecutive time.
"We've got to continue to get better and find ways to improve," Wisconsin coach Greg Gard told reporters. "We've got a lot more basketball games left to play." Illinois seems to have turned the corner under second-year coach Brad Underwood after it pulled out a 63-56 road win against Ohio State on Thursday. The Illini have won four straight conference games, which is their longest streak in nearly two years, and hope to stay hot while exorcising some past demons in the process by knocking off the Badgers for the first time since Jan. 2, 2011. "All we're doing right now is playing with a purpose as we're trying to get the respect that we deserve because we're winners," Illinois guard Trent Frazier told reporters. "People probably put us at the bottom of the Big Ten and we've been working our butts off."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1
ABOUT ILLINOIS (10-15, 6-8 Big Ten): Ayo Dosunmu, who is the reigning Big Ten freshman of the week, produced 15 points, four rebounds and three assists in the win against Ohio State. Frazier also scored 15 points while Giorgi Bezhanishvili, who was named the Big Ten player of the week after racking up 35 points in the 99-94 win against Rutgers on Feb. 9, tallied 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds against the Buckeyes. Andres Feliz has morphed into a solid fourth scoring option off the bench as the junior guard added nine points and six rebounds Thursday to finish with at least eight points for the sixth consecutive game after averaging 4.5 over his previous six outings.
ABOUT WISCONSIN (17-8, 9-5): Ethan Happ continued his assault on the Big Ten record books as he scored 20 points and pulled down 12 rebounds against Michigan State to become the fourth player in conference history to have 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in his career. Nate Reuvers added 11 points and a pair of blocked shots while Brad Davison scored nine points, but it wasn't enough as the Badgers' winless streak against the Spartans grew to six games. D'Mitrik Trice was limited to two points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field and is 7-for-25 over the last three games.
TIP-INS
1. Wisconsin has won the last seven home meetings with Illinois by an average margin of 17.8 points.
2. Happ is among the national leaders with 17 double-doubles.
3. Bezhanishvili is 20-of-27 from the floor over the last two games.
PREDICTION: Wisconsin 71, Illinois 66