After a dramatic road victory over Michigan Wednesday night, the No. 12 Badgers are now preparing for Northwestern, the season's final visitor to the Kohl Center this Sunday.
For Wisconsin, now having won 18 straight at home and currently holding a 15-0 record at the Kohl Center this season, the Wildcats are all that stands between their third undefeated home schedule in the last 80 seasons.
While Northwestern has struggled in Big Ten play, they have one of the more high-powered offenses in the conference, averaging 73.1 points per game (third in the Big Ten) and a noteworthy 9.2 3-point field goals per contest, fifth most in the nation and first in the conference.
Led by formidable offensive weapons in senior guard Michael Thompson and junior forward John Shurna, the Wildcats are certainly a danger on the offensive end. Northwestern made this apparent in their victory over Illinois and near-wins over Michigan State and then-undefeated OSU this season.
However, the Wildcats have been notoriously bad on the road and are well placed among the ranks of teams who have struggled in Madison. Northwestern is 0-11 all time at the Kohl Center.
Since road wins to start the season (against Northern Illinois and Texas-Pan American) the Wildcats are 2-7 away from Evanston, those wins coming against Big Ten bottom dwellers Iowa and Indiana.
Still, even with an infamously bad record in Evanston, the Badgers flew through Welsh-Ryan Arena earlier this year with a sound drubbing of a then-tourney hopeful Wildcat squad, winning the Jan. 23 contest 78-46.
While plenty of teams, including stalwarts Michigan State and Ohio State, have failed to beat Bo Ryan in Madison, Northwestern's losses have been notoriously lopsided, coming at an average of over 18.5 points per game.
On the Wisconsin side, Sunday's matchup is solely about keeping the good vibes flowing. Despite a fairly lackluster performance against Michigan, freshman guard Josh Gasser's buzzer-beating three-point shot got UW out of Ann Arbor with a win and kept the momentum flowing and hopes at a Big Ten title, while perhaps far-fetched, still intact.
""Road games in general are just tough to win,"" Gasser said. ""At this point in the season, you just try to win any way you can.""
But Sunday's final home game carries much more weight for a Badger team hoping to send their six seniors, including starters Keaton Nankivil and Jon Leuer, out with a bang.
""It's going to be their last crack at it, so I'm just going to do whatever I can to help them get where they want to be,"" Gasser added. ""It's going to be a big day for them and I'm just going to try to enjoy it with them.""
With another road test against Indiana to follow before the big finale in Columbus, a solid win is virtually a must on Sunday evening for a Wisconsin team desperate to head out onto the road riding high.
