Badgers Pull Off Shocker And Keep Hoosier Domination Alive

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Just a few weeks ago, Wisconsin men’s basketball was not even considered a team worthy of NCAA Tournament consideration. After Tuesday night’s shocking upset on the road against No. 2 Indiana (3-1 Big Ten, 15-2 Overall), the Badgers (4-0 Big Ten, 13-4 Overall) are once again in the conversation for a Big Ten title. In front of 17,472 Hoosier fans in shock at Assembly Hall, Wisconsin pulled off the impossible with a 64-59 win.

After two lackluster efforts against Penn State and Nebraska, the Badgers seem like a completely different team since a six-day break prior to last Saturday’s defeat of then-No. 12 Illinois. After crushing the Illini with a 23-point victory, the ever-present Badgers never let IU out of their sights, keeping the game within two possessions before a second-half run gave them a 10-point lead they would not relinquish.

Whatever concerns UW had heading into their first truly hostile environment about the play of guard Traevon Jackson went away early as the Westerville, Ohio-native had easily his best performance of a young career, finishing with 11 points, 3 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers. Freshman Sam Dekker also made a major impact, validating last week’s Big Ten freshman of the week honor with 10 points off the UW bench.

But regardless of what the numbers might say, senior forward Mike Bruesewitz was the clear leader of the Badger effort. In a game he said he had circled at the beginning of the year, Bruesewitz made the most of it with 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. More important were Bruesewitz’s intangibles, picking up several loose balls and keeping the Badgers mentally composed throughout.

“I was just trying to preach and tell the guys ‘stay loose, stay loose’ throughout the game,” Bruesewitz said. “Otherwise environments like this will swallow you up.”

After Wisconsin surged out to a 51-41 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining, the Hoosiers responded with a 10-1 run capped off by a three-pointer from IU freshman Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell with just under 5 minutes remaining that got the Hoosiers within 1 at 52-51.

“That was a huge shot for them because that could have been the turning point,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “Fortunately our guys had enough will.”

That will ultimately allowed UW to bounce back from that run with a 10-1 run of their own, effectively sealing the game with two Jackson free throws at the 40 second mark.

Free throws have been an issue all season with Wisconsin shooting just 61% as a team at the line entering play on Tuesday. Despite having yet to face a real test in the way of having to make pressure free throws to close out a game, UW looked as if it had been in the moment all year, making 6-of-8 at the line down the stretch to erase any hopes of an Indiana comeback.

“I think the misses were a fluke,” UW senior forward Jared Berggren said. “Now we are back to our old selves.”

With the Indiana becoming the highest ranked team Wisconsin has beaten on the road in school history, the Badgers have now beaten Indiana in 11 straight games dating all the way back to the tenure of former IU coach Kelvin Sampson. Just a few weeks after being squarely on the proverbial bubble, UW is now in the drivers seat for a conference title. With that as the focus, Wisconsin will have to keep their celebrations short-lived.

“We’ve got Iowa on Saturday and they knocked us off twice last year,” Brusewitz said. “We owe them something.”

Given little chance to compete in the Big Ten, the Badgers might be the only ones not surprised to see their name at the top of the standings.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys with a lot of heart,” Bruesewitz added. “We’ve got a guy with a big red afro and a guy with a flat top. What else do you need?”

Badgers Release 2012-2013 Schedule

Although much of the college sports world will be focused on opening night in college football, Big Ten men’s basketball made headlines Thursday with the release of its 2012-2013 schedule. With conference matchups now set, the complete season schedule for Wisconsin is known.

Following a much improved non-conference slate highlighted by matchups with Florida, California, Creighton, Virginia, and Marquette, UW will begin the Big Ten slate at home on January 3rd, 2013 against Penn State, a team the Badgers swept in their 2012 season series.

“Its nice to have that first game at home,” UW junior guard Josh Gasser said. “But looking at the Big Ten schedule, there are no easy wins.”

The Badgers’ conference schedule is clearly highlighted by a January 15^th road date at Assembly Hall against national No. 1 Indiana. After winning both matchups last season (regular season in Madison and Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis), Wisconsin has now taken 10 straight from the Hoosiers dating back to 2007.

“We didn’t play {at Assembly Hall} last year but its definitely one of the toughest environments to play in,” Gasser said. “Its going to be even tougher this year because they are one of the top teams in the country.”

Some of the marquee home dates include a January 22^nd game against Michigan State (the first game after students return from the winter break) and a President’s Day weekend matchup with Ohio State. Last season, UW faced the Spartans on January 3^rd, with most students still home for the holidays and most of Badger nation still in a daze from the previous night’s Rose Bowl loss.

“Our students are pretty good at coming to games but it’s a lot tougher over break,” Gasser added. “It’s a good thing to have those big games when the students are around.”

With the conference now composed of 12 members, UW will face four schools just once during the 2013 season: Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan, and Purdue. The matchups with Michigan and Purdue will be in Madison, with a February 20^th date in Evanston complementing the aforementioned trip to Bloomington earlier in the year.

The Badgers will close out the regular season just as they started conference play, visiting the Bryce-Jordan Center for a date with Penn State on March 10^th.

The Big Ten Tournament, moving this year to Chicago’s United Center, will begin Thursday, March 14^th and run through Selection Sunday, March 17th.

Although national expectations are once again down for this UW program, the Badgers have yet to finish outside the top 4 in the conference standings during Bo Ryan’s 11-year tenure in Madison. With the schedule pitting the Badgers against the highly touted teams from Indiana and Michigan just once, it seems unlikely that streak will come to an end, especially with Wisconsin returning four starters from a 2011-2012 team that wound up reaching the Sweet 16 for a 2^nd consecutive season.

“Its exciting because every game means something,” UW junior guard Ben Brust said. “We’ve got to bring it every night.”

Indiana Visits The Kohl Center With Badgers Heading Home Hot

It didn’t appear likely a few weeks ago, but Wisconsin men’s basketball returns home for its first post-break game on a four-game winning streak and just a half game out of the Big Ten lead. While it was certainly a welcome sight Sunday when the Badgers (5-3 Big Ten, 16-5 Overall) beat Illinois for their first road win over a ranked opponent since 2008, Thursday’s return to the Kohl Center is no pushover as No. 16/17 Indiana (4-4 Big Ten, 16-4 Overall) looks to hand UW its 4^th home loss for the first time since the 1995-1996 season.

Although the Hoosiers came into the season unranked, their return to national prominence after a three-year drought didn’t come as much of a surprise those who had seen them both on the court and in the recruiting world.

“They had a lot of talent returning…” sophomore guard Josh Gasser said of Indiana. “{Indiana freshman forward Cody} Zeller is a guy that came in and really boosted them over the top.”

While Zeller has come in and immediately made an impact, averaging a team-high 15.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, it has been the three-point shooting of the Hoosiers that has led them to victories over No.1 Kentucky and No. 2 Ohio State.  Indiana comes into Thursday shooting a Big Ten-best 44.9% from three-point range, bested on the national level only by Creighton’s 45.1% pace. But with the Badgers holding their opponents to a NCAA-best 35.9% from the field, something has to give.

“They have multiple guys who can shoot it, from their bigs to their guards…” Gasser said. “We just have to play to out strengths and keep them out of a rhythm.”

Although seemingly unable to find the bottom of the basket at times, Wisconsin has more than held its own from beyond the arc as well. In 21 games this season, UW has shot 37.5% from three-point range, 3^rd in the Big Ten.

Perhaps more importantly, the Badgers are a perfect 14-0 this season when shooting a better percentage from the field than their opponent, something they will no doubt look to do against Indiana. For UW head coach Bo Ryan, accomplishing that goal is just as much about defensive execution as it is about knocking down shots.

“If you are doing the best you can on {the defensive} end and you are trying to fight through slumps {offensively},” Ryan said. “Then you have a chance.”

One thing that is undeniable is the importance of knocking down free throws. Just one year after nearing setting an NCAA record last season by shooting free throws at an 81.8% clip, the Badgers have struggled mightily by their high standards. Yet, even after shooting just 60.9% over the first seven games of the season and starting Sunday’s win by missing seven of its first nine attempts, UW has managed remain over the 70% mark from the charity stripe. More importantly, Wisconsin has made free throws consistently down the stretch, icing close games at the line in Champaign as well as in West Lafayette. In fact, during the final five minutes of Big Ten games, the Badgers are shooting 78% at the line.

“We have to get back on the free throw line and be confident,” junior forward Mike Bruesewitz said. “We still shoot the ball pretty well there but its not as good as it was last year.”

Despite some bad history for IU basketball at the Kohl Center, there is no doubt that the Hoosiers have made it back to the top.

“Its good for college basketball…” Bruesewitz said. “They’ve knocked off the number one and number two teams in the country and that’s just good for the game in general.” 

But while they are much improved this season, Indiana has yet to put up a marquee road victory, something they are no doubt hoping to change on Thursday night. But in order to leave Madison with a win, the Hoosiers will have to reverse a lot of bad history on their side when it comes to playing at the Kohl Center. Since the Badgers moved to the corner of Dayton and Frances, IU has won just one game on UW turf and hasn’t left victorious with Bo Ryan at the helm for Wisconsin. The Hoosiers have struggled in general against UW of late, losing eight straight to the Badgers with the last IU victory coming in Bloomington back in 2007. That eight-game winning streak for Wisconsin over Indiana is the longest streak by a single team against the Hoosiers since Purdue capped off a nine-game run in 1935.

Finally hitting their stride as a team, it doesn’t seem that this Badger team is ready to bring that streak to an end just yet. Tipoff is at 8pm at the Kohl Center.