The Big Ten only had one game on Wednesday night after Minnesota and Nebraska were postponed for COVID-19 concerns. The long matchup put Northwestern on the road against a top 10 Wisconsin squad.

Let’s take a look at what happened.

Game of the Night:

-No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers 68, Northwestern Wildcats 52

This one ended up going about as expected. Wisconsin came in as the favorite and acquitted itself well, jumping out to a double-digit lead in the opening minutes and never looking back. The game was really never in doubt a few minutes into the second half and the Badgers cruised to a 68-52 victory.

For Wisconsin, the win pushes the team to 12-3 overall, 6-2 in Big Ten play, and up to eighth nationally on KenPom. Perhaps more importantly, it also keeps the Badgers just a game out of first place in the league standings behind Michigan and Iowa. And with what looks like a pretty manageable slate closing out January, fans have to be hoping the Badgers can make a serious run at first place in the coming days. That effort will begin with Ohio State at home on Saturday.

On the other side, Northwestern fell to 6-7 overall and 3-6 in Big Ten play with the loss. The Wildcats have now lost six in a row and it’s hard to see the team recovering from this stretch. Things do get easier in the weeks ahead, but there isn’t exactly a lot of encouraging data out there about teams who had losing records in late January. While it’s a weird year and an especially deep Big Ten, the reality of the situation here is rough. We’ll see if Northwestern can start correcting things this weekend against Penn State.

Cancelled/Postponed

-Minnesota Golden Gophers at Nebraska Cornhuskers

After last weekend’s huge win over Michigan, this figured to be an intriguing followup for the Gophers. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait at least a little longer to see how these two teams play against one another as this game was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns. Everyone here at BTPowerhouse certainly wishes everyone involved health and safety.