Badgers' last stand begins with PSU

With the UW men's basketball team (8-4 Big Ten, 17-6 overall) in the midst of its first losing steak of the season, a visit from an even more woeful Penn State (3-9, 9-14) squad should come as a welcome sight.While much has been made of the Badgers' road struggles, their troubles are miniscule compared to those of Penn State. The Nittany Lions have won just one road game, with eight losses coming away from Happy Valley. Regardless of where the games have been, PSU has had little success. It has been six games since they last won a game, and nine of their last 10 games have ended in defeat. But despite their poor record, the Badgers won't be underestimating the Nittany Lions.\We're not going to underestimate them one little bit,"" sophomore guard Boo Wade said. ""Any team can get hot and get the roll ... so we've just got to keep them under control and do what we have to do on D.""Junior guard Clayton Hanson echoed those same sentiments.""Crazy things happen in this league,"" Hanson said. ""For us, at this point in the season, we never take any team for granted."" In the Badgers last two games, both losses, their opponents have scored an average of 68 points, well above UW's usual allowance of just 57. Wade, arguably the team's top defender, thinks a lack of intensity is to blame.""I think the intensity of our D is going down,"" Wade said. ""We're not going out there showing the intensity we had [in earlier games]. We're letting a lot of guys penetrate, we're sagging off, not putting our hand up enough and they're just shooting over us.""If that same lackadaisical mentality shows up Wednesday, Penn State has a few players who could make the Badgers pay. Leading the way for the Nittany Lions is junior forward Jan Jagla. The 7'0"" center leads the team in both points and rebounds, averaging a solid 13 and eight respectively. Also contributing for PSU are sophomore guard Deforrest Riley and freshman guard Marlon Smith. Riley is a good all-around player who is second in the conference in assists with five per game. He can score (13 points per game), and averages five boards per contest. Smith is having a good rookie campaign, averaging 12 ppg, but is shooting just 34 percent from the field.Despite Wisconsin's recent struggles, the chance for a title is still there, but the Badgers can ill afford any more losses. With Michigan State just a game and a half clear of UW atop the conference, nobody is panicking in the UW camp. ""No one is in a panic mode,"" Wade said. ""We just lost to two very good teams ... and we got away from our offense. [The coaches] are getting us back in our rhythm where we're running our O and locking down on D.""These final home games will stand as a barometer for this team, as it looks to parlay late-season success into a deep tournament run.""[A good finish] is key leading up to the Big Ten Tournament and the postseason,"" Hanson said. ""But taking an overall approach probably isn't the best idea; we just need to take it game by game.\