The Badgers hope to continue their 14-game home winning streak Wednesday night as Wisconsin (0-0 Big Ten, 4-0 overall) hosts the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (0-0 Atlantic Coastal Conference, 2-0 overall) at the Kohl Center. The game is one of nine in the 2002 Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
The challenge has not been successful to the Badgers. In the past two years, Wisconsin has lost to Wake Forest, 67-48, and to Georgia Tech, 62-61.
Even though it is a part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, to the players, it is nothing more than another game.
\It's just like any game. It's irrelevant whether it's apart of this or not. We need to prepare for each game just the same and this is no different,"" senior guard Kirk Penny said.
Wisconsin is preparing for Wake Forest having a strong presence down low near the basket. Three Wake Forest players come into this game with at least one double-double each. Senior forward Josh Howard has a double-double in each of their two wins against Yale and Temple. Howard is an offensive threat from anywhere on the court. He leads the team with a 17.0 points per game average and is 50 percent from behind the arc.
Freshman center Eric Williams and sophomore forward Vytas Danelius have also recorded a double-double so far this season, each scoring in double digits and having strong rebounding in those games.
With this play from the front line from Wake Forest, UW Head Coach Bo Ryan is impressed because of the opponents these players got it against.
""For being young, they are pretty talented in the right spots,"" Ryan said.
The key for the Badgers though is to keep the Demon Deacons away from the basket and force them to shoot the long jumper.
""It seems that they like to run a lot of ball screens, try to spread out the court,"" junior guard Freddie Owens said. ""As long as we can keep them from getting to the paint, it will make it easier on defense.""
Penney thinks that, though Wake Forest will match up well with the Badgers size-wise, the Badger need to take it to them to get a win.
""We got to step up physically. We need to play tough against their perimeter, try to stop the ball from getting down low. Down low, we need to get after them and not allow them to get good positioning,"" Penney said.
Owens said he believes that the Badgers need to keep turnovers to a minimum. The Badgers are coming off a game in which they turned the ball over seven times to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
""We need to be smart with the ball,"" Owens said. ""If we have a lot of turnovers we tend to struggle so we need to hang onto the ball and make the game easier for us at that aspect.""
If Wisconsin plays tough defense like they have so far this season and keep the offense flowing, the Badgers may win their first game in three years in the challenge.
