After a crucial road victory, the No. 7 Wisconsin men's basketball team looks to keep its five-game winning streak intact with a matchup at the Kohl Center against the UW-Milwaukee Panthers tonight.
Wisconsin (9-1) defeated Marquette by a score of 70-66 last Saturday and faces a young Panther team before another huge matchup against No. 2 Pittsburgh this weekend.
The Panthers (2-9) have struggled so far this year after losing all their starters from last season. Still, the Panthers went 22-9 last season and lost by just six in their only matchup against the Badgers. UW assistant coach Greg Gard knows the Panthers have a lot of potential.
""Their record isn't any indication of the progress they're making,"" he said. ""They've got an extremely young team that's got a lot of very good players on it ... It's just they haven't put it all together in one game.""
This contest marks the Badgers' second consecutive in-state matchup and another special in-state connection. Second year UWM coach Rob Jeter served as a Badger assistant for 11 years.
Senior forward Alando Tucker seemed excited about the rivalry and the significance of what Jeter means to the Badger family.
""It's fun for both teams,"" Tucker said. ""It's fun for the state of Wisconsin. This is going to be a special game because it's coach Ryan against coach Jeter, a guy that coached under coach Ryan for so long. I know Jeter holds a special place in my heart because he was a guy that helped bring me here.""
After leaving the Badgers to take the job at UWM, Jeter brought a lot of strategy with him in what he learned during his years under Ryan. The Badgers will look to use this knowledge of the Panthers' tendencies as a distinct advantage in their contest.
Senior guard Kammron Taylor indicated the Panthers' style of play is similar to Wisconsin's style.
""They like to do the same stuff that we do, run the swing and get good placement on the floor,"" Taylor said. ""It's not going to be as hard adjusting to it. We know what they want to do because we do the same thing.""
Gard agreed that the UWM offense should be familiar to the Badgers.
""The system we know is pretty easy to pick up, because they run most of the same stuff we do with a couple different wrinkles,"" Gard said. ""But we'll have to be ready to guard the swing on Wednesday night, handle pressure and handle a team that's getting better.""
Without a doubt, the Badgers' greatest achievement from their previous contest was on the defensive end: they held Marquette to 39 percent shooting and a mere 3-for-18 from beyond the 3-point line. This was an essential improvement because the Badgers currently rank 10th in the Big Ten in both field goal percentage defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense.
Tucker stressed the need for Wisconsin to build on Saturday's solid defensive effort.
""We're always looking forward to stressing defense and being ready to play defense every game,"" Tucker said. ""You never know what kind of offensive night you're going to have, and when you're not knocking down shots you have to be able to stop the other things.""
