Wisconsin men’s basketball: Will the Badgers bounce back against Maryland?

Jan 25, 2023 - 5:30 PM

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The Wisconsin Badgers (12-6, 4-4 Big Ten) head to College Park Wednesday Night to face the Maryland Terrapins (12-7, 3-5 Big Ten).

Wisconsin started their season strong going 11-2, before dropping three straight, and then splitting their last two games.

The problem is the Badgers have dealt with injuries and have gone 1-4 in 5 games that they have a starter missing. Unfortunately, they may be without guard Max Klesmit.

Max Klesmit is the Badgers' best on-ball defender, and that defense will be missed when they face Maryland, led by guard Jahmir Young.

While the Badgers started hot and have since struggled, the same can be said about the Terrapins, who started the season 8-0 and have gone 4-7 since.

The Terrapins just lost a tight game to the No. 1 ranked Purdue Boilermakers, and it was a hard emotional loss that took a lot of energy from the Terrapins.

The Badgers lost a tight game against the Northwestern Wildcats by three on Monday after the two teams were forced to reschedule following COVID issues within the latter’s program.

It was a tough loss, as the Badgers battled back down six at the half before gaining the lead, and the two teams went back-to-back the rest of the way, with Wisconsin falling short in the end.

Wisconsin lost due to free throws in the end, making just 9-16 of their attempts, while Northwestern knocked down a stellar 16-18 from the line.

The Terrapins are favored by 5.5 points, which makes sense as they just played the best team in the nation down to the wire.

The teams have already played each other this season. The outcome of that game was a 64-59 win for the Badgers, as they took the 0 from the Terrapins' loss column, who were 8-0 at the time.

This game will come down to who can control the pace of the game. During the last time they met, Wisconsin slowed the game down.

When the Badgers control the pace of the game they are able to run their offense effectively, as they have sharpshooters that get wide-open shots.

Maryland will look to push the pace of the game to allow their crowd to get involved early. They will look to push the pace and try and slow down the permitter shooting of the Badgers.

In their last 10 games, the Badgers are averaging 66.4 points, while the Terrapins have averaged 63.0 points.

Expect a hard-fought game that will get a bit chippy as the conference rivals are looking to get back to their winning ways.

The game will come down to two things: who can control the pace and hit perimeter shots.

Advantage: Wisconsin. They are capable of slowing the game down and hitting big shots, which should aid them in this conference matchup.