Just moments before the Oregon Ducks and the No. 11 Wisconsin Badgers, ESPN College GameDay cast members placed their predictions on who would win the conference matchup. All five of them picked the Badgers to defeat the Ducks without much thought.
With a rocky season throughout Big Ten play, a lot of people have placed doubt on the Ducks. However, with a three-game winning streak in their back pocket, head coach Dana Altman and Oregon should never be counted out.
"His name is Dana Altman. And he aligns Rubik's Cubes," as Oregon fans love to say, a phrase popularized by college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.
With heavily injured lineups, players in scoring slumps, and difficult opponents on the other end of the court, Altman's teams repeatedly find a way to walk away with a win.
When the game tipped off between the Ducks and the Badgers, the two teams got off to a slow start. Nearly two minutes into the matchup, the two had combined for just seven points as Wisconsin held a 4-3 lead over Oregon.
Senior center Nate Bittle, who had been a hero for the Ducks over their last few matchups, scored Oregon's first bucket with an impressive three-point bucket. Sophomore guard Jackson Shelstad finally found his shot as he hit the second bucket of the day for Oregon after he shot 0 percent from the field during the Ducks' previous matchup.
After Oregon's win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, to stretch the Ducks' winning streak to three games, the team improved to 8-8 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Badgers sat at 11-4 in Big Ten matchups when they headed into their home game against the Ducks.