'Sconnie Six Pack 11/19
Six teams of Wisconsin Badgers are highlighted in today's 'Sconnie Six Pack! It's a whole six pack of mustelids!
Wisconsin football plays Nebraska Cornhuskers as Badgers hope to get bowl eligible
Wisconsin (5-5) is traveling to Nebraska (3-7) as Wisconsin hopes to improve its performance on the road this season. Wisconsin is 1-3 on the road this year with its only win coming at Northwestern. You can watch today’s contest for the Freedom Trophy at 11:00AM CST on ESPN.
Nebraska is expecting to get its starting quarterback back in this game after missing the previous two with injury. Casey Thompson led the Cornhuskers to a 3-4 start, but Nebraska is winless without him in the lineup. Since Thompson exited the game against Illinois with injury, Nebraska has had 26 offensive drives on which they’ve produced a total of 16 points with just one touchdown. Thompson’s return absolutely raises the ceiling for this Nebraska team.
Wisconsin is getting its own key piece back from injury in this game: running back Chez Mellusi. Mellusi has missed the last four games after injuring his wrist against Northwestern. His return will add a much-needed element to Wisconsin’s backfield as RB Braelon Allen has been managing a shoulder injury throughout the year. In Wisconsin’s last full-game with Mellusi in the lineup, he carried the ball just one fewer time than Allen. While Allen is the centerpiece of this Wisconsin offense, getting carries split between Allen and Mellusi is critical not just for the offense’s success, but also for the health of Allen.
With Wisconsin still one win away from bowl eligibility, I want to revisit my comments following the Badgers October 1st loss to Illinois. At the time, I described Wisconsin’s path to bowl eligibility as needing a win at Northwestern, then go 2-2 against Michigan State, Purdue, Maryland, and Iowa. Wisconsin has done that. All that is left is completing what I described as the closest thing left on the schedule to an auto-win: beat Nebraska. This determination based on the relative positions of each of these teams in Bill Connely’s SP+ rankings. At the time, Wisconsin was 33rd - exactly the same spot it is in now - and Nebraska was in 63rd - it has since fallen to 75th. Even if you only consider Nebraska’s games in which Casey Thompson started and finished, Nebraska ranks 65th.
Today is Wisconsin’s best remaining chance to get bowl-eligible. Bowl-eligibility becomes a much more difficult task if Wisconsin leaves it up to their rivalry week matchup against Minnesota.
Milwaukee’s 3PT defense falters as Bucks falls to 76ers 102-110
The Milwaukee Bucks (11-4) allowed the Philadelphia 76ers (8-7) to shoot 46.4% from three-point range last night as the Bucks fell on the road. Despite getting both Grayson Allen and Jrue Holiday back from injury, Milwaukee was unable to hold-on to its early 13-point lead.
The expectation was that Milwaukee would shoot poorly from three-point range, but its most disappointing shooting performance came from the free throw line. The Bucks shot a combined eight of 21 (38.1%) from the free throw line - including a lackluster four of 15 by Giannis Antetokounmpo. His performance from the free throw line created a new problem for Giannis, as he now faces scrutiny over an incident following the game which culminated in Giannis pushing over a ladder. The incident occured as Giannis was attempting to practice free throws after the game.
Personally, I am disappointed in the reaction from Giannis. I understand that his performance and the events leading up to the incident frustrated him and he reacted in the moment. After coming back out to make comments to the media however, he should have simply apologized. While he may not have intended to cause the ladder to fall, saying “I don't know if I should apologize because I don't feel like I did anything wrong,” felt incredibly insensitive.
The NBA is often marred by its superstars involving themselves in truly offensive scandals. If this is the worst offense by Milwaukee’s superstar who has been under a microscope for the better part of six years, I’ll take it.
The Bucks will get a day off tomorrow before hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday at 7:00PM CST.
#3 Wisconsin volleyball sweeps Rutgers on Friday, plays #14 Penn State tonight
Wisconsin once again swept (25-13, 26-24, 25-10) the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Friday. The 3-0 victory extended Wisconsin’s overall winning-streak to 15 matches and extended its streak of straight-set wins over Rutgers. The latter winning streak is complete through eight seasons; Wisconsin has not dropped a set to Rutgers since 2014.
The Badgers will play the Penn State Nittany Lions tonight. You can catch it at 7:00PM CST on the Big Ten Network.
Wisconsin and Penn State last met at the end of September in a match Wisconsin won 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 31-29). The Badgers won that match with an impressive defensive performance holding the Nittany Lions to just .136 hitting.
Penn State is looking to defeat ranked opponents on back-to-back nights as the defeated #9 Minnesota last night 3-1 (25-18, 25-18. 20-25, 27-25). Although Penn State is out of the race for the Big Ten championship, they have a lot to play for as a likely NCAA tournament team. The Nittany Lions currently sit in fifth-place in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin also got some help in its quest for a Big Ten title last night. Unranked Maryland upset #5 Ohio State in four sets (16-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-18) leaving the Badgers alone in first place of the conference. Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Ohio State still each control their own fate in the race for the Big Ten championship because Wisconsin goes on the road for matches against the other two next week. Wisconsin, however, can afford one loss in its remaining three matches and still come away with the title.
#3 Wisconsin women’s hockey hosts #1 Minnesota
The Wisconsin Badgers (10-2-0, 7-1-0 in WCHA conference play) and Minnesota Golden Gophers (9-1-1, 9-0-1 WCHA) are playing a marquee matchup in women’s hockey this weekend. You can watch today’s sold out game at 2:00PM CST on TVW (Channel 3-2) in the Madison area and on B1G+.
Wisconsin and Minnesota boast the nation’s two best offenses. Wisconsin scores 5.67 goals per game edging-out Minnesota at 4.82. Minnesota’s offense is powered by three of the best young hockey players in the world. Taylor Heise won last season’s Patty Kazmaier award winner as the most outstanding player in NCAA women’s hockey. Abbey Murphy and Grace Zumwinkle each played on the Team USA Olympic team that won a silver medal at this year’s winter games and are both scoring threats from anywhere on the ice.
Wisconsin men’s hockey overcomes multiple deficits to defeat Lindenwood
The Badgers trailed the Lindenwood Lions by a goal early in the first and third periods, but managed to hang on to defeat a Lindenwood program in its first season of NCAA play. Wisconsin and Lindenwood will play the second game of their two-game series tonight. You can watch it at 7:00PM CST on Bally Sports Wisconsin.
Lindenwood came out to an early 1-0 lead as Caleb Price scored just two minutes into the first period. Wisconsin ended the first period up 2-1 with a pair of goals by Zach Urdahl and Brock Caufield. Lindenwood scored the lone goal of the second period to tie the game at 2-2 headed into the final 20 minutes of regulation. It was in the third period that Wisconsin flirted with disaster.
Wisconsin gave a 3-2 lead to Lindenwood by allowing an own-goal with Wisconsin’s goalie pulled on a Lindenwood delayed penalty. Fans of this Badgers team will recall that Wisconsin allowed an own-goal under the same circumstances just last season in a victory over Minnesota.
Two power play goals in the third period allowed Wisconsin to tie and ultimately win the game by a score of 4-3. Badgers head coach Tony Granato described it as "one of those crazy games where when the buzzer goes, you look up at the scoreboard and you make sure you've got one more than the other team and then you just move on and get ready for the next one.”
After last week’s overtime victory against Long Island, I wrote that “no Wisconsin men’s hockey victory in recent memory has felt as much like a defeat as last night’s.” It took less than one week for that feeling to be supplanted. This six-time national championship winning program simply should not be having “one of those crazy games” against a team in its inaugural season of NCAA play.
Topping-off the six pack: Wisconsin men’s and women’s cross-country teams compete for national championships today
Both the Wisconsin men’s and women’s cross country teams are racing in the NCAA championships today in Stillwater, Oklahoma. You can catch the races on ESPNU with coverage of the women’s race beginning at 9AM CST and the men’s race at 10:10 AM CST.
Frankly, I cannot add much more than I did earlier this week when the women’s team was selected to compete in the national championships, so I will simply repeat it:
Cross country is the unsung dominant hero of the Wisconsin athletic department. The women’s cross country program is headed to its 32nd national championships, second only in the Big Ten to Michigan, and is headed there for the sixth time in the past seven years. The men’s cross country program qualified for the national championships by winning its 32nd regional title after winning its 53rd Big Ten title earlier this season.
On, Wisconsin.