Perhaps no school in the country has disappointed more this college basketball season than Michigan, which sits in the bottom of the Big Ten and might be forced to fire usually successful coach Juwan Howard. The Wolverines look to play spoilers on Wednesday against No. 11 Wisconsin. 2024 NCAA Basketball Betting & Expert Analysis #11 Wisconsin vs. Michigan | MyBookie Sportsbook Week 14 NCAAB

How to Bet Wisconsin at Michigan NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Wednesday, 7 PM ET
Where: Crisler Center
TV: Big Ten Network
Stream: BTN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: Wisconsin -2.5 (total 74)

#11 Wisconsin vs. Michigan Series History

This is the only scheduled meeting this season. Last season, the split with Michigan winning 87-79 in overtime at home. Kobe Bufkin scored 28 points and Hunter Dickinson had 23, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime. Both those guys are gone now. There were two ties and three lead changes early in overtime before Michigan took control with a 10-0 run in which Bufkin and Dug McDaniel both scored four points. McDaniel finished with 20 points for the Wolverines. Connor Essegian had 24 points to lead UW and Tyler Wahl had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Both those guys remain key players on the Badgers. Michigan leads the all-time series 98-75 and is 60-23 at home, winning four of the past five meetings in Ann Arbor.

Why Bet on Wisconsin Badgers?

Wisconsin (16-6, 8-3 Big Ten) had been leading the Big Ten for a while but is now 1.5 games back of first-place Purdue after losing 75-69 at home to the No. 2 Boilermakers on Sunday. Purdue took the lead for good midway through the first half and extended the margin to 10 with about 14 1/2 minutes remaining. Purdue won its first road game over a top-6 ranked opponent since March 5, 1994, a 95-94 win over No. 3-ranked Michigan. It was Purdue’s first road win over a top-10 ranked opponent since Feb. 17, 2010, a 60-57 win over No. 9-ranked Ohio State.

The Boilermakers won this one by outrebounding Wisconsin 42-29 and outscoring the Badgers 21-14 in second-chance points. The Badgers hurt themselves by shooting 3 of 19 from 3-point range. Although AJ Storr scored 14 points, he shot 4 of 15 overall and 0 of 4 from beyond the arc. Tyler Wahl led the way for the Badgers with likely his best game of the season — 20 points on 10 of 16 shooting, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks.

In the last four games, the Badgers have hit 76.4% of their free-throw attempts and they still lead the Big Ten in free-throwing shooting in league games (77.5%) and all games (80.1%). But of late, they aren’t generating enough attempts, a trend that contributed to their 2-2 mark in those four games. During that stretch, the Badgers averaged just 13.8 attempts per game. They were averaging 21.6 attempts per game in league play before the four-game stretch.

“Why we’re not shooting enough free throws,” coach Greg Gard said, “is because when you’re taking jump shots, you’re not going to get fouled and you’re not going to make a high-enough percentage of them to make it worth it. Regardless of our opponents, we have to do a better job of attacking and not settling for pull-up jump shots and early threes. Moving the ball more, getting more touches for the five guys on the floor, moving the defense, lifting it.”

The Badgers scored 44 points in the paint against Purdue, a productive showing against a team with a 7-foot-4 center blocking the path to the rim, and yet that total should have been higher. Wisconsin settles for too many jumpers and did so again Sunday with that terrible three-point shooting.

After going 0-2 last week, Gard is looking to push Badgers out of their comfort zone so they can be an “elite” team. It’s possible this team needed a wake-up call after developing some bad habits that were easy to overlook because Wisconsin was winning a lot of games.

“Sometimes losing or taking a bump gets you out of your comfort zone a little faster,” Gard said. “You kind of cruise in it when you’re winning and maybe the lessons aren’t as hard or aren’t as direct. … We want to be playing our best basketball in March.”

The Badgers are averaging 75.5 ppg, which would be the team’s highest scoring mark since they averaged 77.9 ppg in 1993-94. Wisconsin ranks 2nd in Big Ten play, shooting 49.1% FG and ranks 5th shooting 39.8% 3FG. UW is 4th in the Big Ten allowing just 67.8 ppg and is 12-0 when holding teams to 70 or fewer points. The Badgers own a +5.5 rebounding margin this season, up from last year’s -3.4 deficit.

Why Bet on Michigan Wolverines?

Michigan (7-15, 2-9) lost its fifth game in a row Saturday, 69-59 at home to Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights erased a 15-point deficit late in the second half with a 37-12 run in the second half for the school’s first-ever win at Crisler Arena. Trailing 57-51 with 7:19 left in the second half, Rutgers went on a 14-0 run that spanned more than four minutes to put the Scarlet Knights ahead 65-57, a lead they never relinquished. Michigan missed nine of its final 10 shots and was unable to mount a late comeback.

Olivier Nkamhoua led the Wolverines with 14 points, while Tarris Reed Jr. scored 12 and pulled in a career-high 15 rebounds. Dug McDaniel was the third U-M player in double figures, scoring 10 points. McDaniel can only play in home games due to academics. In total, the Wolverines shot just 9-for-28 (32.1%) in the second half, including going 1-for-11 (9.9%) on 3s.

Michigan has a five-game losing streak for the second time this season, and has dropped 10 of its past 11.

“Best answer I can give you right now is what stops the bleeding is pride,” coach Juwan Howard said. “Pride to have the mindset to go out and wherever the play is, if it’s one of those roll-your-sleeves-up, get-your-knees-dirty — those are the type of plays we need. You got to have a certain level of fight and commitment to playing physical, starting with the basics, boxing out and pursue the basketball. If you box out, your opponent won’t get the basketball, which also helped key that run.”

Reed Jr. has seven-plus rebounds in five of his last six games, including his fourth and fifth games of 10-plus — a career-best 15 against Rutgers (Feb. 3) and 10 at No. 2 Purdue (Jan. 23). With these 54 boards (9.0 rpg) during this stretch, he is now tied with Nkamhoua for the team lead at 7.0 per game. Reed tied his career best with five blocks against Rutgers (Feb. 3). He leads U-M with 32 total, setting a new single-season best (31; 2022-23).

Nkamhoua has 18 games scoring in double figures while grabbing five-plus rebounds. Behind those numbers, he averages a career best for points (15.9) and rebounds (7.0). In addition, Nkamhoua is third on U-M with 58 assists (2.6 apg), with 12 games with three-plus assists.

McDaniel has led the Wolverines in scoring the entire season with 16.8 per game. With 18-of-19 games in double figures, he has a U-M best six 20-plus point games, including his career-best of 33 (twice). In his second season, he has nearly doubled his freshman average (8.6 ppg) by +8.1 points. McDaniel is six assists away from recording a second straight season of 100-plus. He led U-M last season with 122 (3.6 apg). McDaniel (4.9 apg) has posted 11-of-19 games with five-plus assists.

Terrance Williams II, who is averaging a career-best 12.5 points per game, continues to pace U-M with 43 total long-range buckets. Those 43 long-range buckets surpassed his career total (38) compiled in his three prior seasons. Nearly 50 percent of Williams’ offense comes from beyond the arc — 109 of his 209 shot attempts have come from long range. He is shooting 39.4 percent.

U-M is third in the Big Ten with 8.8 three-pointers per game. The Wolverines have had nine-plus long-range buckets in 13 games, with seven of 10 or more. The No. 11 Badgers will be the third ranked Big Ten opponent the Wolverines have faced this season — No. 14 Illinois (L, 88-73) and at No. 2 Purdue (L, 99-67).

#11 Wisconsin vs. Michigan Expert Prediction

Wisconsin 74, Michigan 70

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