1. LAST TIME OUT

Wisconsin trailed at Ohio State, 56-54, with 5:49 remaining before closing the game on a 17-4 run on its way to a 71-60 win on Wednesday. Max Klesmit scored for 12 of his team-high 18 points during that final 5:49, as the Badgers made six of their final seven shots.

UW turned it over just 5 times. The Badgers shot 47.4% from the field, topping 47% for the fifth consecutive game. Wisconsin went 10-for-11 at the free throw line (OSU was 4-for-10). The Badgers lead the conference shooting 76.2% at the stripe.

Sophomore AJ Storr tallied 17 points, with 15 of them coming in the first half. Junior Chucky Hepburn finished with seven points, four rebounds, four assists (one turnover) and four steals. Tyler Wahl poured in 11 points with five boards. Freshman Nolan Winter scored a career high seven points.

2. SERIES HISTORY

Saturday’s game marks the 190th meeting between Wisconsin and Northwestern in a series that dates back to 1910. UW leads the all-time series between the schools, 122-67.

The Badgers have won 22 of the last 29, but Northwestern swept the season series in 2023. UW had won seven straight before NU's wins in a year ago. The Wildcats' season sweep was their first against Wisconsin since 1996. In the 26 years between, the Badgers posted 10 regular-season sweeps of NU.

Wisconsin owns a 69-24 edge over the Wildcats in games played in Madison.

Under head coach Greg Gard, Wisconsin owns a 8-5 record against the Wildcats.

3. BIG TEN BEASTS

Greg Gard has Wisconsin off to a 4-0 start in Big Ten play for the first time since 2012-13. The Badgers are looking for their first 5-0 start since opening the 2007-08 season with five straight conference wins en route to a 16-2 mark and a Big Ten championship.

UW has won all four Big Ten games by double figures and led wire-to-wire in two of them.

During Big Ten play, UW has trailed for a total of just 2:55 in the second half of games.

4. QUALITY COMPETITION & RESUME

Wisconsin is at #12 in the latest NET Rankings (through games Jan. 10), going 7-3 overall in Quad 1+2 games (4-3 in Quad 1).

Wisconsin has 7 wins in Quads 1+2, joining Purdue (9), Memphis (7) and UConn as the only schools with at least 7 quality wins. 

The Badgers are also 1 of just 7 programs with at least 4 Quad 1 wins. Only Purdue (6), North Carolina (5) and Uconn (5) have more.

Conversely, UW has no bad losses with all 3 coming from teams in the NET top 60: Arizona (2), Tennessee (6) and Providence (54).

5. MAX-IMUM EFFORT

Junior guard Max Klesmit is coming off a standout second-half performance in Wisconsin's road win at Ohio State on Wednesday. Klesmit registered 18 points with all of them coming in the second half. In fact, he scored 12 points in the final 5:16 of the game alone.

Klesmit reached double digits for the fifth time this season (UW is a perfect 5-0 in those games).

In the last outing, Klesmit surpassed 1,000 career points (617 pts in 2 seasons at Wofford) bringing his total to 1,012 career points.

Earlier this season against No. 3 Marquette, Klesmit scored a game-high 21 points (all in the first half) - the most of his UW career.