Wisconsin Badgers have been very bad on the road. We all know that Badgers have not been themselves when they play away from the Kohl Center. They were 0-5 and went to Knoxville for a very difficult game against Tennessee on Saturday afternoon. Vols were missing Lamonte Turner, their best player, but Vegas still believed in the Volunteers. That was the wrong idea. Wisconsin dominated this basketball game from almost start to finish winning 68-48. This is one of their best performances of the year and a great addition to their resume.

Player of the Game: Brevin Pritzl – What a game from the senior. He scored 17 points with 12 of those in the first half. Pritzl could not miss from deep early on. Tennessee has been poor defending three all season, and Pritzl exploited them. He was the reason Wisconsin jumped on Tennessee building a big lead. He finished with an offensive rating of 140 which was the best for the Badgers.

Honorable Mention: D’Mitrik Trice – After a rocky start, D’Mitrik Trice bounced back with an awesome game. He scored 21 points. It was not the most efficient game from Tice, but he filled up the bucket. Wisconsin needed that on the road. They did not have that kind of scoring in some of the road losses this season. This is only the second time in his career where he scored 20+ points in back-to-back games.

Reviewing the resume: Wisconsin has one more non-conference game on Tuesday, but they should not have any issues with Rider. If they win that, they’ll be 7-4 in the non-conference. Wisconsin is not safe from the bubble, but they now have two signature wins beating Tennessee and Marquette. They’re going to need a few more of those in the Big Ten season.

One thing to watch: Brad Davison’s ankle – Wisconsin’s guard is battling an ankle injury as the conference season looms next week. Davison played through the injury with 30 minutes on Saturday. Ankle injuries are not something that I think we’ll keep Davison out, but it is something that can flair up or injure more in a game.

Next up: Wisconsin takes on Rider on New Year’s Eve to wrap up their non-conference season. Rider likes to push the tempo which could be an issue when they play the Badgers. They’ve not played many Power 6 teams this non-conference, but when they have, they lost by double-digits in each of them. Wisconsin needs to avoid the Ohio State lookahead and get the job done.