Monday, the No. 8 Wisconsin Men's basketball team (8-1 Big Ten, 18-3 overall) was voted into the Top 10 in both the AP Top 25 and ESPN/USA Today Polls for the first time this season. Wednesday night, the Badgers will try to prove their worth on the road against the Iowa Hawkeyes (4-6 Big Ten, 11-12 overall).
After a tough road loss to Purdue on January 26th, the Badgers jumped five spots in the polls with an impressive week, which included a 62-49 home victory over the then-No. 11 Indiana Hoosiers and a 63-47 road victory over the Minnesota Gophers.
Wisconsin's defense held both the Hoosiers and Gophers to season lows for point totals and continues to showcase spectacular play.
Through Feb. 3, Wisconsin was limiting its opponents to just 54 points per game, best in the Big Ten and among the best in the country.
Meanwhile, the Iowa Hawkeyes have played inconsistent basketball in their last few games, alternating wins and losses in their last eight for a 4-4 record. It has been a transition year for the Hawkeyes, as they lost their two top scorers from last season in guard Adam Haluska, who graduated, and sophomore forward Tyler Smith, who transferred to Tennessee.
This season the Hawkeyes are led by a pair of guards: junior Tony Freeman and senior Justin Johnson.
After missing 10 of the Hawkeyes first 11 games, Freeman has played well, averaging 15 points, three assists and three rebounds on the season. Johnson is the team's second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, averaging 13 and five, respectively.
Currently, Iowa has the worst scoring offense in the conference with 56 points per game, but had the third-best defense, giving up just 60 points per game.
In the last meeting between the two teams in Madison Jan. 5, the Badgers won 64-51 behind senior center Brian Butch's 22 points and seven rebounds.
The Badgers had seven offensive rebounds and the Hawkeyes had 10 turnovers in the first half alone, yet the Hawkeyes trailed only by six at the half.
The difference in the victory was the Badgers' aggressive play, with 18 second-half free throw attempts and 70 percent shooting from the line for the game.
Wednesday night's game will also be a homecoming for Wisconsin sophomore guard Jason Bohannon, who was born in Iowa City and attended Linn-Mar High School in Iowa.
Bohannon was a three-time Iowa Newspaper Association All-State first-team selection and led Linn-Mar to a state championship in 2004. Following his senior season, Bohannon was named Iowa's Mr. Basketball."" Bohannon will try to improve upon a mediocre performance against Iowa earlier this season where he shot just one-for-six from the field.
One Badger who has shown steady improvement this season is junior forward Marcus Landry. After only scoring in double figures once in Wisconsin's first eight games, Landry has stepped up his game since the start of Big Ten play. Landry has reached double figures in seven of nine games against in-conference opponents, including a 14 point, 11 rebound game against Indiana last week.
Wednesday's tipoff is set for 8 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Following the game, the Badgers will return to Madison Saturday night to face the Purdue Boilermakers, the last team to hand them a defeat.
