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Wisconsin at Xavier: Key storylines to watch in the Gavitt Games matchup

By Lukas Harkins

CINCINNATI, OH - JANUARY 02: Marshall reacts. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH - JANUARY 02: Marshall reacts. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 01: Happ #22 of the Wisconsin Badgers celebrates. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 01: Happ #22 of the Wisconsin Badgers celebrates. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Xavier and Wisconsin have split matchups over the past three years. Now meeting for another time, what should you watch for in this matchup?

With the college basketball season heating up, non-conference tournaments and inter-conference challenges are taking over the headlines of the sport. The Gavitt Games, which is a competition between the Big Ten and the Big East, is traditionally one of the better “challenges” of every NCAA basketball season and this year is providing fans with more tremendous matchups. One of the best involves two extremely consistent programs on the national scene: Xavier and Wisconsin.

  • Who: Wisconsin Badgers (1-0) at Xavier Musketeers (2-0)
  • When: Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m. ET
  • Where: Cintas Center in Cincinnati, OH
  • TV Schedule: Fox Sports 1

However, even though these two programs have been incredibly successful over the course of the 21st century, they are coming off of vastly different seasons. For Xavier, seniors Trevon Bluiett and J.P. Macura led the team to arguably its best season in recent memory. They won the Big East regular-season title and were awarded a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. And even though they fell in just the second round, it was a spectacular season. Now, though, they have had to replace a tremendous crop of seniors as well as their head coach so a step back is expected.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, dealt with injuries throughout last year and tumbled to a 15-18 record. The Badgers missed the NCAA Tournament for like the first time in what seemed forever and it was an altogether disappointing campaign. Now, though, they return every major contributor from last season with hopes of improving across the board and starting a new streak of consecutive Big Dance appearances.

For both of these teams, the end goal this season is to make the NCAA Tournament. And while it is still very early in the campaign, there is no better time to start building a resume for the committee than the present. With this said, let’s dive into three major storylines to follow for this matchup between the Badgers the Musketeers.