The Badgers rushed out to an early lead and nearly lost it, but bounced back in a conference victory in Madison.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are heading into Sunday’s matchup against No. 18 Wisconsin with their season hanging by a thread. A loss in Madison would be their sixth straight defeat and might all but end their hopes of salvaging anything meaningful from this year.

Tonje dropped 27 points, 15 of which arrived in the first frame, and corralled five rebounds in 29 minutes of action. Sophomore guard John Blackwell finished with 14 points and four boards, Kamari McGee scored 11 points and nailed three three-pointers off the bench and Max Klesmit chipped in with eight points and seven rebounds.

Nebraska's men's basketball started slow on the road against No. 18 Wisconsin and never fully recovered in its sixth straight loss. Here are three takeaways from the blowout.

It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Nebraska-Wisconsin prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Nebraska-Wisconsin. The Nebraska Cornhuskers were sailing along and having a really good college basketball season.

Wisconsin basketball (16-4, 6-3 Big Ten) rose to No. 17 in the latest edition of the USA TODAY Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll. The team jumped two spots following a 1-1 week that included a convincing 83-55 victory over Nebraska and a narrow road loss to UCLA. The team’s vote total increased from 194 to 214 in the process