The Badgers would love nothing more than to crash Minnesota's Valentine's Day and complete a series sweep of their border-battle rival Gophers tonight in Minneapolis.
Wisconsin dominated Minnesota in their last meeting Jan. 6 to kick off their Big Ten season. UW held Gophers junior guard Lawrence McKenzie, Minnesota's leading scorer, to just five points on two-of-nine shooting. McKenzie was coming off perhaps his best game of the season, a 23-point outburst against Purdue in which he missed only one field goal and one free throw.
UW junior guard Michael Flowers attributed the Badgers' control of McKenzie to the electrifying atmosphere in Madison.
""It's always tough to play on the road and the Kohl Center is one of the toughest places to play in the nation. That has a lot to do with the fans, coach [Bo] Ryan and us out there on the floor making it happen,"" Flowers said. ""But people have up and down games and fortunately for us that was one of his down games, so we're going to do everything in our power to make Wednesday another down game for him and the rest of his teammates.""
For the Badgers, senior forward Alando Tucker has been a little banged up. After rolling his left ankle in Monday's practice, Tucker limped off the floor, missing the second half of the practice.
The Badger's leading scorer and National Player of the Year candidate said it was nothing to worry about.
""It's one of those things, you take [a fall] in practice,"" Tucker said. ""But I'm ready to play.""
Tucker added he was ready to go for the remainder of the session, but trainer Henry Perez-Guerra did not want to ""push the issue.""
On the other side, the Gopher season has been anything but stable from a coaching perspective. After Dan Monson resigned after a 2-5 start to his eighth season with Minnesota, Jim Molinari stepped in. Molinari has not improved much, leading Minnesota to a 7-11 record since.
UW senior center Jason Chappell says that it's hard to tell how a team will react to that instability. They can either fold under the pressure or come together and realize that they have to pull together through rough waters.
""For a team to pull together, then if they win that's an attribute to them,"" said Chappell. ""So it says something if a team can pull through tough times.""
Flowers emphasized it doesn't matter who is coaching a team sometimes, but that the disrupted rhythm coaching changes cause can damage a squad's consistency.
""Anytime you have a lot of changes during the season, you can't find that rhythm,"" Flowers said. ""It's unfortunate, but teams go through this all over the country.""
While McKenzie struggled against the Badgers, Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson were their usual consistent selves. UW will have to watch out for them as well as the outside touch of Jamal Abu-Shamala, who has shot 40 percent from behind the arc.
As the season wears on, the Badgers are realizing that as one of the nation's best, they're getting everybody's best effort.
""Everybody wants to knock off one of the top teams in the country. When you get a chance to play one of the best teams in the country, you're going to bring your best,"" Chappell said. ""It would be a great win for their resume.""
