La Crosse native Jonathan Davis and the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team gets a a historic favorite in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Badgers have the No. 9 seed and will play eighth-seeded North Carolina at 6:10 p.m. Friday. The game, from Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind., will air on CBS.
A win, and Wisconsin likely plays No. 1 seeded Baylor (22-2). Gonzaga is the top overall seed (26-0), while Big Ten foes Illinois (23-6) and Michigan (20-4) round out the other No. 1 seeds.
Both Wisconsin and (17-12) and North Carolina (18-10) enter the tournament unranked. That’s good news for the Badgers, who have lost eight consecutive games to ranked opponents — five of those in the Top 5 and seven in the Top 15. Three of those Top 15 losses were to Iowa.
Davis enters his first-ever NCAA tourney averaging 7.0 points on 42.5 percent shooting (13-for-34 / 38.2 percent from deep). The 6-foot-5 freshman is also averaging 4.1 rebounds, 1.1 steals, 1.1 assists, .6 blocks and 1.0 turnovers in 24.3 minutes per game.
This is the 25th overall trip to the tournament for Wisconsin. The Badgers are 3-9 against ranked opponents this season.
Wisconsin, which has been to the Final Four four times in school history, is just one of five schools to appear in 21 of the last 22 NCAA tournaments.
The Badgers haven’t gotten out of the second round since 2017.
TOP PHOTO: TOP PHOTO: FILE – Wisconsin guard Jonathan Davis (1) passes the ball around Michigan guard Franz Wagner (21) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)