The No. 10 Wisconsin men's basketball team (9-3 Big Ten, 19-5 overall), coming off of an upset of previously undefeated and No. 1 Ohio State (which sounds vaguely familiar) and winners of four straight and seven of their last eight games is now faced with the task of moving on from their big win and preparing for a showdown with No. 11 Purdue.
The star of Saturday's game against the Buckeyes was junior point guard Jordan Taylor. After scoring only six points in the first half, Jordan stepped up his game and rattled off 21 points to finish with a game-high 27. For his performances against Iowa and Ohio State, in which he averaged 21.5 points per game and 7.5 assists per game, Taylor was also named Big Ten Player of the Week. When asked about Jordan's big time play during the latter part of games, coach Ryan was very generous with praise.
""Jordan probably has a better feel than most as to making sure he got a good shot,"" Ryan said. ""There are certain things that you can't teach somebody, I mean they've gotta have that court awareness.""
With the Badgers' win over Ohio State, many are wondering whether the emotional toll of the game or the national spotlight the Badgers put themselves in will have an adverse effect on the team. One could say that coach Ryan is a little more than skeptical of this view.
""[The players] know our routine. It'll be right back to doing what we always do,"" Ryan said. ""It's not like this team hasn't played. I mean we're not a 5-20 team that just won on Saturday. These guys have been in these situations.""
It is hard not to agree with Ryan on this point. The Badgers are a high-quality team themselves. Tied for second in the Big Ten, and have beaten many great teams, including four in the top 25. This kind of win for the Badgers is definitely not uncharted waters.
The Badgers next opponent will also be very higly touted, in Purdue (9-3 Big Ten, 20-5 overall). Purdue is currently tied with Wisconsin for second in the Big Ten and is coming off a big win at Illinois. This matchup is the 168th meeting between the Badgers and Boilermakers, with Purdue leading the all-time series at West Lafayette 67-16. The two teams have also split their last twelve meetings after Wisconsin won the last matchup 66-59 at the Kohl Center on February 1.
The main player the Badgers will have to stop on Wednesday will be Purdue's center Jajuan Johnson. Johnson scored 23 on the Badgers the last time he played them and left Bo Ryan trying to find the answer that no coach seems to know: how to stop Jajuan Johnson.
""I found it disturbing that nobody else could stop [Johnson]. He is that good,"" Ryan said. ""He can score inside and out now, he faces up a lot better and what he added to that team just by getting better as an individual makes them a better team.""
