Five Things to Know: Wisconsin vs. Tennessee
November 08, 2023 | Men's Basketball
Badgers host No.9 Volunteers on Friday
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's basketball team welcomes No. 9 Tennessee to the Kohl Center on Friday, Nov. 10. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. (CT) and the game will be streamed live on Peacock.
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FIVE THINGS TO KNOW:
1. ALL-TIME vs. TENNESSEE
The Badgers are 3-2 all-time against the Tennessee Volunteers, including a 2-0 record under head coach Greg Gard. The last time the two teams faced was Dec. 28, 2019 in Knoxville. That game saw Wisconsin win, 68-48, on the road. D'Mitrik Trice dropped a game-high 21 points, while Brevin Pritzl contributed 17 points off the bench. Tyler Wahl, then a freshman, played 21 minutes and finished with four points and five rebounds. The team led by as many as 28 points and never trailed against the Vols at any point during the game.
When Wisconsin hosts No. 9 Tennessee on Friday, the Badgers will be looking for their 11th top-10 win under Coach Gard (six of those 10 wins are against top-five teams). Since 2001-02, when Bo Ryan and Greg Gard arrived at Wisconsin, the Badgers have gone 49-25 (.662) at the Kohl Center against Top-25 teams. That includes a mark of 14-11 against team in the top 10.
2. SCOUTING TENNESSEE
Tennessee enters Friday's game at No. 9 in the AP Top 25 rankings. The Volunteers' season opener resulted in an 80-42 win over Tennessee Tech. Senior guard Dalton Knecht finished with a team-high 17 points, while Josiah-Jordan scored 15 points. The team scored an impressive 30 points in the paint, while the bench provided 36 points in the win.
Tennessee also held strong defensively, limiting Tennessee Tech to just 14-for-51 shooting from the field (2-for-12 from 3-point range).
Friday will mark Tennessee's second time playing at the Kohl Center and most recent trip since 2001, which Wisconsin won, 65-62.
3. LAST TIME OUT
Records were broken in Wisconsin's season opener on Monday vs. Arkansas State. The Badgers broke the single-game scoring record at the Kohl Center with their 105-76 win. The previous building record was actually held by Kansas, which it set during the 2002 NCAA Tournament against Oregon with a 104-86 win.
Monday's performance marked the most points scored by the Badgers since a 105-70 win over Eastern Illinois on Dec. 28, 1995.
The last time that UW had scored 100 or more points in a regular season game was against Savannah State on Dec. 13, 2018. The last time the Badgers had scored 100-plus points in a season opener was in 1993 vs Milwaukee.
4. SHARE THE ROCK
Depth is one of the Badgers' greatest strengths this season, having multiple players who can handle the ball on offense. A total of eights players scored five or more points in the season opener against Arkansas State. Those players included Chucky Hepburn (20 points), AJ Storr (15 points), Max Klesmit (14 points), John Blackwell (12 points), Steven Crowl (9 points), Tyler Wahl (8 points) and Nolan Winter (6 points).
Wisconsin scored 39 points off the bench in the win. For comparison, the most bench points UW produced in a game all of last season was 24 reserve points vs. Dayton in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
UW shot 65.0 percent from the field in its season-opening win, going 39-for-60, which registers as the fourth-highest shooting mark in school history.
5. CHUCKY'S HOT START
Junior point guard Chucky Hepburn made a statement in the season opener against Arkansas State. In 31 minutes, he dropped 20 points to go along with 6 assists. He shot an impressive 7-for-10 from the field, including 2-for-3 shooting from behind the arc.
Not only was he dominant on the offensive end, he was also active and scrappy on defense. Hepburn finished the game with three steals, which was a huge contribution to Wisconsin's 24 points off turnovers.
