Radio Rehoboth
Illinois Fighting Illini @ Wisconsin Badgers
Current Records: Illinois 21-7, Wisconsin 18-10
Illinois has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They and the Wisconsin Badgers will face off in a Big Ten battle at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday at Kohl Center. Illinois has been dominant on offense recently, as they’ve racked up an incredible 471 points over their last five contests.
Illinois scored the most points they’ve had all season to find success on Wednesday. They came out on top against the Golden Gophers by a score of 105-97. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Illinois’ win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Terrence Shannon Jr., who scored 29 points along with six rebounds. Shannon Jr. didn’t help Illinois’ cause all that much against the Hawkeyes on Saturday but the same can’t be said for this matchup. Marcus Domask was another key contributor, scoring 22 points along with seven rebounds and five assists.
Meanwhile, the point spread may have favored Wisconsin last Tuesday, but the final result did not. They wound up with the same score they had in their last game (74-70), but sadly the team found themselves on the wrong side of the score this time. They found out winning isn’t easy when your shooting is a whole 18.2% worse than the opposition.
Despite the defeat, Wisconsin got a solid performance out of Chucky Hepburn, who scored 15 points along with seven rebounds and six assists.
The Fighting Illini’s victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 21-7. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 90.0 points per game. As for the Badgers, they have not been sharp recently as the team’s lost six of their last eight contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 18-10 record this season.
Illinois beat the Badgers 61-51 in their previous matchup back in January of 2023. Will Illinois repeat their success, or do the Badgers have a better game plan this time around? We’ll find out soon enough.
Illinois has won 6 out of their last 10 games against Wisconsin.
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A night to remember for the third-year WR
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