It’s been a while since the Minnesota Golden Gophers have spoken. Their last game was Dec. 22, so they had a great holiday and should be fresh for their matchup with No. 14 Wisconsin in Madison.
The Badgers are 10-2 after beating Western Michigan last time out, but they will all be Big 10 games for the rest. Wisconsin will want to do better than the share of the regular-season conference title it got last season.
Let’s get into the odds for a Tuesday night Big 10 basketball game with Wisconsin as the heavy favorite at home.
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin odds, spread and total
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin prediction and pick
Wisconsin is a very good basketball team, and they’re set up to win a lot of games and be a similar surprise to last year. The Badgers quickly climbed to 14th in the nation by winning those games, but it wasn’t because of the margin of victory.
The Badgers have won big in their last two games, but those were against Western Michigan and Lehigh, the two teams outside KenPom’s top 300. Outside of those two games, in their last six wins, they’ve had a combined 18 points.
Wisconsin also plays at a very slow pace, usually not conducive to blowouts. He’s 320th in possessions per game and Minnesota, 288th, should be happy to join them in bleeding the 30-second clock. The Badgers will win this one, but to win by 13 points they will have to turn off the lights. They’re shooting 38.1% from 3 this season, but they shot nearly 45% from 3 last game, so there could be a regression in shooting tonight.
Minnesota’s fresh legs might help them earn a few stray balls or extra rebounds, not enough to win this one, but I like the Golden Gophers covering.
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Game odds are updated periodically and are subject to change