La Crosse’s Johnny Davis scored 37 last time Wisconsin upset Purdue; Tuesday’s matchup could determine Big Ten title
The Big Ten title could all but be determined Tuesday night between the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team and Purdue.
Two months ago, when these two teams matched up, Purdue was ranked No. 4 in the country and had a 13-game home winning streak.
Then La Crosse native Johnny Davis arrived.
In front of 15 NBA scouts, the sophomore dropped a career high 37 points and led Wisconsin to a 74-69 win.
He did that leading the Badgers in every statistical category — something that hadn’t been done by a Division I player against a Top 5 team on the road since Tim Duncan did it back in 1997.
Saturday was a crazy one for men’s college basketball with seven of the Top 10 teams losing — something that’s never happened ever on a single day in the sport.
The Badgers(23-5, 14-4), however, didn’t lose and moved up to No. 10 in the rankings, while Purdue dropped to eighth.
Wisconsin leads Purdue and No. 10 Illinois by one game in the Big Ten standings with one more game to go after Tuesday. Wisconsin closes out the regular season at home against Nebraska on Sunday.
Purdue (24-5, 13-5) missed out on a big opportunity in Saturday’s chaos, losing to Michigan State 68-65.
That dropped the Boilermakers seven spots in this week’s poll and potentially off the No. 1 seed line in the NCAA Tournament.
Purdue finishes the regular season Saturday at home against Indiana.
Illinois (20-8, 13-5) hosts Penn State on Thursday and No. 24 Iowa Sunday.
TOP PHOTO: FILE – Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis (1) goes to the basket against Purdue’s Jaden Ivey (23) and Isaiah Thompson (11) during the first half of an NCAA basketball game, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, in West Lafayette, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)