'Sconnie Six Pack 12/4
Who is in and who is out for the Packers today and recapping the weekend in Wisconsin sports
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Without further ado -
What’s brewing:
Packers at Bears preview: two struggling teams battle for the all-time NFL wins record
Wisconsin outlasts Marquette in overtime in the I-94 rivalry
Wisconsin volleyball sweeps TCU to advance to its 10th straight Sweet Sixteen
Down three starters, the Milwaukee Bucks defeat the Charlotte Hornets
Wisconsin men’s hockey squanders early lead, loses to #5 Michigan
Topping-off the six pack: #2 Wisconsin women’s hockey sweeps Bemidji state in season series
Packers at Bears preview: two struggling teams battle for the all-time NFL wins record
The Green Bay Packers (4-8) and Chicago Bears (3-9) have each won 786 games in franchise history - tied for the most in NFL history. Today, they meet for the 206th time (regular season and playoffs) historic bragging rights. You can watch today’s game at 12:00PM CST on Fox.
Despite a painful rib injury, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will start today in Chicago. Rodgers left Green Bay’s game against the Eagles in the fourth quarter with the injury, but scans showed his ribs are not broken.
After missing last week with an injury, Bears QB Justin Fields is set to start today against the Packers. Green Bay’s defense has been notorious, over multiple seasons, for allowing huge QB rushing numbers and Fields is as big a challenge as the Packers defense will see. Earlier this season, Fields set the NFL single-game QB rushing yards record. Fields has also set NFL records for the most QB rushing yards over a span of two and five games.
Players not active today for the Packers are:
CB Shemar Jean-Charles
S Darnell Savage
LB Krys Barnes
T David Bakhtiari
WR Romeo Doubs
DL Jonathan Ford
Jean-Charles is a healthy scratch.
Savage was listed as doubtful to play on Friday’s injury report. He being ruled out comes as the Packers elevated fellow safety Micah Abernathy from the practice squad to the active gameday roster.
Barnes is inactive as a healthy scratch as inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell returns to the lineup. Campbell is active today as he just completed his first full week of practice since exiting the Packers’ game against the Buffalo Bills with injury.
Bakhtiari had an appendectomy on Friday and is inactive today.
Doubs returned to practice for the first time this week and was listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report. Despite hope that he would play today, he is inactive with an ankle injury.
Ford is a healthy scratch.
Wisconsin outlasts Marquette in overtime in the I-94 rivalry
After building an 11-point lead in the first half, the Wisconsin Badgers (6-2) struggled offensively in the second half against the Marquette Golden Eagles (6-3), but did just enough to force overtime. A capacity Fiserv Forum crowd watched five extra minutes of basketball as the Badgers defeated the Golden Eagles by a score of 80-77.
The last time Wisconsin played inside Fiserv Forum - a second-round NCAA tournament loss to Iowa State - Chucky Hepburn suffered a leg injury that kept him sidelined the remainder of the game. Yesterday, Hepburn, similarly, exited the game early in the second half with an apparent leg injury. The Badgers struggled in the second half, shooting just 35.5%, but Hepburn returned to the game with 6:53 remaining in regulation to help force overtime.
Hepburn’s loss in the second half was of particular concern for the Badgers as he recorded 16 points and made all six of his shots from the field in the first half. Hepburn finished the game with 19 points after making a three-pointer that gave Wisconsin a lead late in regulation.
In overtime, it was junior guard Max Klesmit - a Wisconsin-native and transfer from Wofford - who made two key plays to secure the Badgers’ victory. A drive and shot-fake by Max Klesmit gave Jordan Davis an open-three point shot to give Wisconsin a three-point lead with 2:11 in overtime.
In the waning seconds of the game, Hepburn drove the baseline before passing to Klesmit who drove the lane after realizing Hepburn was at-risk of being trapped in a double-team. Hepburn found Klesmit who made a contested shot near the rim with just 3.5 seconds remaining. The bucket gave Wisconsin a 79-77 lead and Tyler Wahl later hit a free-throw on a botched in-bounds play by Marquette to secure the victory.
#1 Wisconsin volleyball sweeps TCU to advance to its 10th straight Sweet Sixteen
Wisconsin’s dominance from round one of the NCAA tournament carried over to the second-round as the Badgers defeated the TCU Horned Frogs in straight sets (25-9, 25-11, 25-23). It was Wisconsin’s 20th consecutive victory - the second longest streak in program history. The record is 22 consecutive wins set in 2014 per Wisconsin’s game notes.
The Badgers dominated the first two sets outscoring the Horned Frogs a combined 50-20. In that stretch, Wisconsin forced TCU to commit 22 hitting errors to hit -.108. Wisconsin committed just two errors during that stretch and hit .388.
The Horned Frogs put up a fight in the third set, but Wisconsin took a 10-9 lead and never looked back. The Badgers never gave up the lead again. TCU held off Wisconsin on two match points after the Badgers held a 24-21 lead, but it was Wisconsin’s dominant block that ended the match.
Wisconsin out-blocked TCU 11-2 and outhit the Horned Frogs .395 to .051 on the match. Senior Danielle Hart led the Wisconsin block with five.
The Badgers were also dominant from behind the service line. Wisconsin had six aces to TCU’s one.
Up next for Wisconsin is the regional semifinal. The Badgers will host regional semifinals and final matches at the UW Field House next weekend. Wisconsin will play Penn State, which it has defeated 3-2 and 3-0 in its two previous matches this season, in the regional semifinal. #4 Penn State advanced to the regional semifinal with 3-0 and 3-1 wins over UMBC and UCF respectively.
If Wisconsin defeats Penn State, the Badgers will play the winner of #2 Pitt and #3 Florida. Each swept their first and second-round matches.
Pitt and Florida will play at 2:30PM CST on Thursday. Wisconsin and Penn State will play 30-minutes following the conclusion of the first match. The regional final will be played Saturday at 7:00PM CST. Television coverage for each match will be on ESPNU.
Down three starters, the Milwaukee Bucks defeat the Charlotte Hornets
Despite being without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, and Khris Middleton, the Milwaukee Bucks (16-6) defeated the Charlotte Hornets (7-16) last night by a score of 105-96. Antetokounmpo, Holiday, and Middleton each sat out last night’s game to rest as the Bucks played their second game in as many days.
The Bucks had four players with double digit scoring last night, but it was forward Bobby Portis who stood out most. Portis led the team in scoring (20 points), rebounds (eight), and assists (seven). Portis made nine of his 18 shots (50%) from the field.
Small forward Jordan Nwora had a great offensive performance as well with 17 points, four rebounds, and one assist on seven for 11 shooting.
Brook Lopez added to his Defensive Player of the Year resume with six blocks. Lopez also added 14 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Lopez shot four for eleven on the night including making three of his five shots from three-point range.
Milwaukee plays next at the Orlando Magic tomorrow night.
Wisconsin men’s hockey squanders early lead, loses to #5 Michigan
Wisconsin entered yesterday’s game hoping to sweep a top-ranked opponent after winning Friday night and got out to a hot start. The Badgers (7-9-0, 1-7-0 Big Ten) led 1-0 in the first period and 2-1 in the second period, but it was not enough to defeat the #5 Michigan Wolverines (11-6-1, 3-5-0). Michigan defeated Wisconsin by a score of 4-2.
The Badgers will look back at last night’s game as one they could have had, but let slip away due to an inability to execute on special teams. Wisconsin had six power play opportunities, but did not score on any of them, only managed four shots on goal. The Badgers had zero shots on goal on three of their six power play opportunities. Despite holding Michigan to 0/4 on the power play, the failure to get just one power play goal doomed Wisconsin.
The deficiencies of Wisconsin’s power play proved decisive as the Badgers allowed Michigan to score a shorthanded goal with 6:42 remaining in regulation that proved to be the game-winner. Michigan scored an empty net goal in the final minute to add to their final tally.
Wisconsin plays again next weekend in Minnesota against the Golden Gophers.
Topping-off the six pack: #2 Wisconsin women’s hockey sweeps Bemidji state in season series
The #2 Wisconsin Badgers (13-2-1, 10-1-1 WCHA) defeated the Bemidji State Beavers (4-15-1, 1-13-0 WCHA) by a score of 4-1 yesterday. Wisconsin completed its season-sweep of Bemidji State winning all four games.
Three different Badgers scored as Wisconsin got by Bemidji State after a scoreless first period. Freshman defender Vivian Jungles opened the scoring within the first minute of the second period, but neither team found the back of the net for the remainder of the period.
Wisconsin started the third period hot again adding a goal by redshirt senior forward Britta Curl within the first minute to give the Badgers a 2-0 lead. Bemidji State’s Reece Hunt scored on the power play to cut Wisconsin’s lead in half with 5:31 remaining, but freshman forward Kristen Simms scored just over two minutes later to put the Badgers back up 3-1. Curl added an empty net goal with 36 seconds remaining to finish the game.
Wisconsin’s offense was dominant throughout even if it did not find the back of the net as often as expected. The Badgers outshot the Beavers 42-0.
Wisconsin plays next weekend in Mankato, Minnesota against Minnesota State.
On, Wisconsin.