Preview: Wisconsin basketball vs. Ball State

The Badgers host the Ball State Cardinals tomorrow night at the Kohl Center. Here's everything you need to know.

Photo courtesty of UW Athletics

The Wisconsin Badgers are back in action at the Kohl Center tonight after downing Northern Illinois in nonconference action on Friday night at home. They will host the Ball State Cardinals (2-0) in their third game of the season.

Ball State comes into the town after defeating Louisiana and Mansfield in consecutive games to start the season. The Cardinals will be the second MAC school the Badgers take on in the early part of the 2025-26 season.

The Cardinals come into the matchup averaging 79.5 points per game. Defensively, they give up just 59.0 points per game, the 40th-least in the country. Like most teams in the country, Ball State has had some significant turnover from last season. The Cardinals return just 10.7% of minutes played and 5.7% of scoring returning from last season.

Here’s everything you need to know heading into the game tonight.

Game info

When: Tuesday, November 11th - 7:30 PM
Where: Kohl Center - Madison, WI
How to Watch: Big Ten Network (BTN)
Stream: BTN; Fox Sports App
Listen: Badger Radio Network; The Varsity Network App

Probable starting lineups

Wisconsin

Starters
G - #2 Nick Boyd (Sr.) - 23.0 pts, 3.0 reb, 3.5 ast
G - #25 John Blackwell (Jr.) - 23.0 pts, 5.0 reb, 1.5 ast
G - #7 Andrew Rohde (Sr.) -6.5 pts, 1.0 reb, 2.0 ast
F - #22 Austin Rapp (So.) - 10.5 pts, 4.0 reb, 3.5 ast
F - #31 Nolan Winter (Jr.) - 14.5 pts, 9.5 reb, 1.0 ast

Notable Bench Players
G - #5 Jack Janicki (So.) - 2.5 pts, 2.5 reb, 3.5 stl
F - #23 Will Garlock (Fr.) - 2.5 pts, 1.5 reb, 2.0 ast
F - #32 Aleksas Bieliauskas (Fr.) - 4.0 pts, 2.0 reb, 0.5 ast

Senior guard Elmore James drives into the lane in Ball State’s 75-64 victory against Louisiana. | Photo credit: Heather Parker via Ball State Athletics

Northern Illinois

Starters
G - #5 Armoni Zeigler (Jr.)- 16.5 pts, 6.0 reb, 3.0 ast
G - #2 Davion Hill (So.) - 16.0 pts, 7.0 reb, 4.0 ast
G - #13 Devon Barnes (Sr.) - 7.5 pts, 2.0 reb, 0.5 ast
F - #4 Kayden Fish (So.) - 7.5 pts, 1.5 reb, 1.5 ast
F - #24 Mason Jones (Jr.) - 3.0 pts, 4.5 reb, 1.0 ast

Notable Bench Players
F - #7 Cam Denson (Sr.) - 12.0 pts, 4.5 reb, 1.5 ast
G - #1 Elmore James (Sr.) - 10.0 pts, 1.5 reb, 1.0 ast

Players to watch

Armoni Zeigler - Ball State

The Cardinals’ leading scorer transferred into Ball State from Saint Peter’s, where he averaged 8.6 points and 1.4 assists in two seasons with the Peacocks. The 6’4” guard does his damage from the inside, shooting 77% from the field. He has not hit a three so far this season on three attempts, although he is a career 31% shooter from deep.

If I had to guess, I’d assume Andrew Rodhe would be the Badger assigned to guarding Zeigler. The Badgers being able to limit Zeigler’s ability to get to the hoop in the game tonight is going to be a point of emphasis for the Badgers.

Davion Hill - Ball State

The other guard for Ball State is Davion Hill. Coming in right behind Zeigler, the sophomore guard is averaging 16.0 points through two games. Like Zeigler, he does a majority of his scoring in the paint, averaging eight 2-point shots per game and converting 63% of his shots. He is 3-of-7 from 3-point range, giving him an average of 43% from deep. He is a player the Badgers can’t leave open.

Both Hill and Zeigler average over 30 minutes per game, the only two on the team.

Austin Rapp - Wisconsin

After the first two exhibition games, I thought Rapp might actually have a chance to be one of the top scorers on the team. After two games, however, that hasn’t been the case. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but he has taken a back seat to Blackwell, Boyd, and Winter. Rapp has been more of a threat as a passer, making some nice feeds to Winter in the post, making a dynamic high-low duo.

Ball State will likely be focused on stopping Blackwell and Boyd. With the guards’ ability to drive and dish, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rapp gets a few opportunities to hit some shots from the outside.

In this offense, I feel like the leading scorer could be anyone on any given night. I’d like to see Rapp have a game where he is more of a threat as a scorer than he’s shown through two games so far.

What I’m watching for