Wisconsin basketball, riding a seven-game winning streak, faces UCLA on Tuesday night. Continue reading for a full Wisconsin vs UCLA prediction and preview.
Greg Gard has been pushing all the right buttons for the Badgers as of late. By the end of the first half against USC, John Blackwell had 16 points, and the Badgers had a 15-point lead. UCLA has been trending in the opposite direction. While they picked up a win over Iowa on Friday, they now sit at 12-6 and are just 3-4 in conference play.
Latest on UCLA basketball:
UCLA picked up a much-needed win over Iowa on Friday. Eric Dailey Jr., a sophomore guard, had a career-high 23 points. He was supplemented well by Tyler Bilodeau, who had 18 points on an efficient 8-for-10 shooting from the floor. Bilodeau and Dailey Jr. have been the two leading point scorers for the Bruins, averaging 14.6 and 12.2 points per game, respectively.
The Bruins are not a heavy shooting team. They are just 33.3 percent on their three-pointers, knocking down under seven threes per game. They run with four guards and a forward (Tyler Bilodeau) and try and use heavy off ball movement to cause havoc and set up easy shots from close range. That plays into Wisconsin’s strength, as Wisconsin has had difficulty defending the three-pointers, but generally has been able to prevent teams from getting easy baskets.
Latest on Wisconsin basketball:
It is hard to understate just how good Wisconsin has been in 2025. The Badgers moved up to #18 in the AP Rankings this week after taking down Ohio State and USC. They are just one spot behind Illinois, and have now leapfrogged Michigan, one of the three teams to beat them this year.
Two things have changed this year. Steven Crowl is much more productive, and Greg Gard is giving playing time to Carter Gilmore in order to avoid having both Crowl and Winter on the court. Gilmore’s defense is contagious. After having the highest plus-minus against Ohio State at plus seven, he had the second highest plus-minus against USC at plus 15, despite scoring just two points. Badger fans can expect to see a lot more of Gilmore in the near future.
The one surprise from Wisconsin’s win was that John Tonje did not score a point in 22 minutes of action. However, Max Klesmit had a nice performance, dropping 18 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the field.
Wisconsin vs UCLA prediction: Badgers by 8
Wisconsin is somehow a 3.5-point underdog against UCLA, which seems like a trap (the line is too good to be true for Wisconsin). However, the matchup favors Wisconsin in terms of style of play, and in terms of momentum. I will happily fall for this trap.