Badgers looking to keep a lid on Northwestern
MADISON, Wis. - The Northwestern Wildcats have had a rough go of things since they travelled to the Kohl Center at the end of January. The Wildcats (12-14, 3-12 Big Ten) have lost their last seven games, including their 62-46 loss to Wisconsin (18-8, 10-5) on Jan. 26.
The Badgers will be looking to make that an eight-game skid for the Wildcats on Saturday night when they play at the newly renovated Welsh-Ryan Arena at 7:30 p.m., but they know from personal experience that Northwestern is more competitive than their overall record would suggest.
After all, four of their Big Ten losses this season have come by three points or fewer. There was the near-toppling of then-No. 5 Michigan in a 62-60 game at home in December, following a close 68-66 loss to Indiana on the road. The Wildcats have also lost on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to Iowa last Sunday, and dropped a 59-56 game to Rutgers later in the week.
It’s made for a frustrating season for the Wildcats in a year where their roster boasts a collection of talented players, and the Badgers said on Thursday after practice that they know they need to throw the records out when they head down to Evanston this weekend.
Northwestern’s defense in particular drew rave reviews from the Badgers, who probably remember having to slog through a 42.9 percent shooting performance in their first game against the Wildcats this year. KenPom.com has Northwestern’s defense ranked No. 26 in the country, with the Wildcats holding teams to an average of just 64.5 points per game.
“Defensively they are very well coached, they are very well disciplined,” sophomore guard Brad Davison said about Northwestern after practice on Thursday. “They play a great style of defense. They’re kind of like us. They like to play at their pace.”
It’s a fair comparison - the Badgers are allowing 61.2 points per game this season, and are ranked No. 6 in defensive efficiency on KenPom.com. Of course, the difference is that Northwestern’s offense is ranked No. 188 (out of 353), and the Badgers are ranked No. 41. That makes a difference when you get in to close games, and UW head coach Greg Gard said on Thursday he respects how the Wildcats have proven to be a tough out in conference play.
“They’ve been in so many close games,” Gard said Thursday. “A lot of respect, just like everybody else in our league. But I can only speak from our experience. We’ve been in a ton of close ones - we’ve had a lot go our way. They’ve been on the other end of some but they’ve had - I think there has been three, four or five games that have had the game in doubt with the ball in the air on the last shot. Obviously they’re competitive, doing good things defensively. They have good players - Vic Law, Derek Pardon, Ryan Taylor. We’ll have to play our game and play well.”
The Badgers will have to bottle up those senior leaders once again if they are going to continue their trend of playing well on the road at Northwestern. Law, Pardon, and Taylor combined to score just 20 points against the Badgers in their first matchup this year, despite all three players averaging at least 10 points per game apiece in the season as a whole. The Wildcats will certainly try and see if they can find more cracks in Wisconsin’s defense this time around, but Davison said there’s only so much both teams will be able to take away from their last battle.
It’s the Big Ten, after all. Each game is a new battle.
“I think every game is its own challenge,” Davison said on Thursday. “I think everyone kind of goes back and re-does their Xs and Os to try and correct things from the first game, so I think every game is different. Whether it’s home or away, a different venue makes it feel different as well. They’ll have different schematics for us and we’ll have different schematics for them. I’d say every game is it’s own individual challenge.”
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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.