Amidst one of the toughest battles for the Big Ten title in recent history, the UW men's basketball team (9-5 Big Ten, 19-8 overall) needs to finish strong to bring some momentum into the Big Ten Tournament and ultimately, the NCAA tournament. Completing the season on the road against an angry Michigan State (7-7, 19-9) Thursday and Iowa Saturday will not make that task easy.
'Michigan State is always a tough place to play,' junior forward Jason Chappell said. 'But that is just something with most games on the road. You need to be focused coming in and match their intensity coming out of the gate.'
'It's definitely going to be a challenge on Thursday,' junior guard Kammron Taylor said.
Although the Spartans have lost four of their last five, they are nearly unbeatable at home with a spellbinding 110-8 record over the last eight seasons. A popular preseason Final Four pick, Michigan State is looking to end a disappointing Big Ten season on a high note with a couple of wins at home. However, one of their bigger home losses came to Wisconsin in 2003, as their 54-game home winning streak was snapped.
'They play with a lot of intensity, they are 7-7 and we are 9-5 and they are going to try to win the last two games of the season,' Taylor said.
'We are just going to play, that's the way I always have coached the next game,' head coach Bo Ryan said.
Of course, when anyone is going to talk about stopping Michigan State, the big three are going to come up. Maurice Ager, Paul Davis and Shannon Brown comprise the best triple threat in the nation, as they combine for 55 points per game.
'It will be a situation where we will have a lot of help on the floor and try to keep guys in front of us,' assistant coach Howard Moore said. '[We need to] make sure we challenge all shots.'
Triple threats aside, the biggest X-factor on the Spartan team may be sophomore point guard Drew Neitzel. His nine points a game may not jump off the page, but if Neitzel is allowed to fast break and run the offense without any pressure, opposing defenses crumble. His three point shooting is also deadly, as he shoots around 42 percent from beyond the arc.
'One of the main things is to stop their transition game,' Chappell said. 'Try to get a guy back every time a shot goes up for us because they like to score a lot in transition.'
Something the Badgers absolutely cannot do is send MSU to the line early and often. The Spartans lead the Big Ten and are fourth in the nation in free-throw percentage at 78 percent. Neitzel and Davis are nearly automatic, shooting 95 and 89 percent respectively. If Wisconsin gets behind at the end of the game, any chance of winning will dramatically decrease because fouling just will not be effective.
Spartan senior forward Matt Trannon is still out indefinitely with a broken jaw.
The game starts at 6 p.m and will be televised on ESPN.
