The Wisconsin men's basketball team's second-half meltdown last Saturday was a big wake-up call for a team fighting for an NCAA tournament bid. The Badgers (8-7 Big Ten, 17-10 overall) will need to respond quickly if they want to keep those hopes alive this Sunday afternoon when they host the Michigan Wolverines (7-8, 17-11).
The Badgers are coming off a difficult 61-50 loss at Michigan State. Wisconsin led 41-29 with 12 minutes remaining. But the Spartans took control of the contest with tough defense allowing just two field goals the rest of the game, and aggressive rebounding inside that resulted in many second-chance opportunities for Michigan State. Assistant coach Greg Gard said it's crucial for the Badgers to not allow similar lapses the rest of the season.
""We've just got to make sure we do a good job of staying focused and committing to that every possession,"" Gard said. ""Rebounding can't be a sometimes thing, it has got to be all the time. We need to be more aggressive ourselves on the glass and try to get easy put backs ourselves on the offensive end.""
When the Badgers faced the Wolverines in Ann Arbor at the end of December, Michigan was off to a hot start, winning 10 of their first 12, including two victories over top-five opponents. But the Badgers cooled off the Wolverines with a 73-61 win, and Michigan has seen its play decline ever since, losing 8-of-10 in a one-month stretch.
Wisconsin shot nearly 59 percent from the field in their last matchup against Michigan, a big reason why the Badgers were able to pull out the victory. The Badgers held the Wolverines to just 39 percent shooting. Wisconsin also contained Wolverine sophomore guard and leading scorer Manny Harris, who shot just 3-for-13 from the field. UW junior guard Jason Bohannon said the Badgers had an excellent game plan for limiting Harris' explosiveness.
""We did a good job of just keeping him out of the lane, forced him into contact and staying straight up and not having him draw fouls on us,"" Bohannon said. ""He's an excellent free throw shooter—he's very good at getting people to leave their feet and finishing. Anytime we can force him into tough shots that's to our advantage.""
Harris ranks second in the Big Ten, with 16.9 points per game. Michigan junior forward DeShawn Sims also presents a low-post threat at 14.5 points per game, second on the team and 7.3 rebounds per game, third in the Big Ten. Besides these two stars, Gard says the team should not overlook the rest of Michigan's roster. Freshman guard Zack Novak dropped 20 points and eight rebounds on the Badgers in Ann Arbor.
""Those two guys really make them go, but they've got other guys,"" Gard said. ""That Novak kid has really shot the ball well. He's at a unique position at a four, which sometimes people get caught because you have to put bigger guys on him depending on who you have on the floor.""
Wisconsin will have a full week of rest entering Sunday's game. Although sophomore forward Keaton Nankivil says this rest has been a luxury, he's not sure it presents an advantage.
""At this point in the season, every team is kind of at the same level where everybody is rested as you're going to get,"" Nankivil said. ""But it's late in the season, there's no way to avoid kind of being worn down. Everybody's at that point and we're just going to try and play hard with what we have and hopefully get the win.""
Tip-off for Sunday's matchup is set for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
