The main theme in practice this week was learning from previous mistakes, and when the UW men's basketball team travels to UW-Milwaukee Wednesday, the Badgers will have an opportunity to show what they learned from their 81-76 loss Saturday to Marquette.
How many situations has [sophomore guard Trevon Hughes] had a chance to be in playing from behind?"" head coach Bo Ryan asked. And then with the speed of the game, with the juices flowing - he'd like to have that play back or this play back, just like everyone else would, but you still have to learn,"" head coach Bo Ryan said.
Wednesday night's matchup pits Ryan against his former player and assistant coach Rob Jeter for the third time. Ryan got the best of his apprentice in each of the last two seasons, which were the first two seasons as a head coach for Jeter. Both of those games were played in Madison, however, and now UW will have to travel to Milwaukee for the first time since 2001 when Devin Harris' steal and layup in the final seconds improved Wisconsin's road record against UWM to a perfect 8-0.
Wisconsin leads the all-time series with UWM 23-1 and has won 14 consecutive games in the series. Still, this is only the second road game of the season for Wisconsin - the first being an 82-58 blowout loss at Duke.
""It's our second road game, but it's only about an hour away so it's not that big of a difference from what we normally do,"" senior Brian Butch said. ""That helps us as far as getting into a hostile environment while still doing the things we usually do.""
The game is expected to draw a record crowd for U.S. Cellular Arena, which seats 12,700 fans but has never seen a crowd larger than 10,783. A big reason for the expected crowd will be the large number of Badger fans that show up, including a number of UWM students that will be wearing red. Still, Butch was not quick to call it a partial home game.
""I wouldn't say it's a home game. We know it's a road game,"" Butch said. ""You can kind of feel the importance. I probably shouldn't say importance, but you can feel a different atmosphere.""
On paper, Wisconsin is bigger, faster and more talented. The Panthers (0-2 Horizon League, 3-6 overall) don't have a player over 6'7' and are on a five-game losing streak. Still, Wisconsin (6-2) has plenty to work on from their loss to Marquette. The Badgers were out rebounded by a smaller team, missed 10 free throws and committed 18 turnovers.
""The 18 turnovers really hurt us as a team,"" junior forward Marcus Landry said. ""If you don't have 18 turnovers then just two things can happen. You are either going to score or not. It's definitely not good to have 18 turnovers and it's something we have to improve on.""
Wednesday's game will also be Landry's second homecoming to his native Milwaukee, with the previous one coming last year when UW played Marquette at the Bradley Center. The matchup traditionally has a ""closer to home"" feel to it every year, as many of the players know each other from high school or AAU games.
""I know a lot of the players that play for UW-Milwaukee,"" Landry said. ""I grew up with some of them and hung out them when I was younger and played basketball with a lot of those guys. Some of them I know pretty well.""
The players Landry knows best are senior forward Torre Johnson and junior guard Ricky Franklin. Johnson is leading the Panthers in scoring with 18.7 points per game despite being in his first year with the team. The senior grew up in Milwaukee and returned home after playing at Oklahoma State.
The Panthers' only other double-digit scorer is senior forward Paige Paulsen, who is averaging 14 points per game. He is also the team's tallest player at 6'7'. If the Badgers can control the front court by stopping Johnson and Paulsen, their edge in the backcourt should be enough to hold off UWM.
The only other thing that could hold Wisconsin back would be a post-Marquette hangover, but Butch said the team is past that.
""We let one slip by and you learn from it and you move on,"" Butch said. ""That's where we're at right now. We're looking forward to Wednesday, and there's no reason to look in the past.""
