Davis, No. 13 Badgers out to avenge Rutgers loss with 4th-ranked Purdue on horizon
GAME OF THE WEEKEND
SATURDAY: No. 13 Wisconsin at Rutgers.
The Badgers (22-5, 13-4) look for some revenge, after losing to the Scarlet Knights two weeks ago.
This could also be a trap game for Wisconsin, with No. 4 Purdue on the schedule Tuesday. La Crosse native Johnny Davis set a career high with 37 points the last time Wisconsin upset the Boilermakers.
Rutgers (16-11, 10-7) beat Wisconsin 73-65 on Feb. 12.
Rutgers also held Davis to 11 points and on 5-of-10 shooting — both the points and shots were the second-lowest totals of the season for the sophomore.
Davis also turned the ball over four times that game, and has done that three of the past four contests. In the other 21 games this season, the 6-foot-5 guard has turned it over four times just twice.
Davis enters the game averaging 20.6 points, 8.3 rebound and 2.4 assists. He’s the only player in the Big Ten to lead his team in all three of those categories.
— Rick Solem
LOOKING AHEAD
Indiana (17-10, 8-9) is teetering on the NCAA bubble but helped itself with a win over Maryland on Thursday. The Hoosiers bounced back after blowing a late lead in an overtime loss at Ohio State, and guards Rob Phinisee, Khristian Lander and Trey Galloway got hurt. They finish at Minnesota, at home against Rutgers and at Purdue.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Iowa’s Keegan Murray is averaging 28 points the past two weeks, the top figure among Power 5 players. He joined ex-Hawkeye Luka Garza as the only two Big Ten men’s players in the past decade to score 20 or more points in seven straight games. Murray has scored 25 or more in an NCAA-best 12 games this season and has a chance to put up huge numbers again Friday when the Hawkeyes visit last-place Nebraska. Murray had a career-high 37 in a 98-75 win over the Cornhuskers two weeks ago.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Purdue has won 12 of its last 14 games after a 1-2 start in Big Ten play. The Boilermakers’ 24-4 record is their best 28-game start during the Matt Painter era and matches their best start since the 1987-88 team opened 26-2. … Illinois has won at least 12 Big Ten games three straight years for just the third time in program history. The Illini also did it in 1951-53 and 1987-89. … Ohio State just finished a stretch of three games in eight days and will finish the regular season with five games in 11 days.
ON THE WOMEN’S SIDE
No. 6 Michigan visits No. 21 Iowa on Sunday in a much-anticipated rematch for the Hawkeyes. Iowa star Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 46 points and led a late comeback that fell short in a 98-90 loss at Ann Arbor on Feb. 6. Michigan (22-4, 13-3) leads a tightly packed top of the Big Ten standings. Four teams are within a game of the Wolverines. … Ohio State held Wisconsin to a season low for points in a 59-42 win last Sunday. The Badgers managed just seven points each in the second and third quarters. … Northwestern’s Veronica Burton filled up the stat sheet in a 82-59 win at Illinois on Sunday. Burton had 13 points to go with career highs of 14 assists and arena-record nine steals.
— Associated Press
TOP PHOTO: FILE – Wisconsin’s Jonathan Davis, right, grabs for a loose ball, between Rutgers’ Paul Mulcahy (4) and Caleb McConnell during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Rutgers, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in Piscataway, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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