The Wisconsin Badgers (9-10, 2-4) will be back in action at the Kohl Center on Friday night, looking to rebound from their 78-50 loss to Purdue on Tuesday night in a game against the Illinois Fighting Illini (10-9, 0-6).

Game information and team previews are included below.

Wisconsin vs. Illinois

Where: Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

Time: 8:00 PM CST

Watch: Fox Sports 1

Listen: BadgerSports Network (iHeartRadio)

Follow and Discuss Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz, @McNamaraRivals, @JohnVeldhuis and @realJ_Mills

Illinois basketball has been in a slump for a while now, and only time will tell if new head coach Brad Underwood is the right man to lead the Fighting Illini back to where they were in the first half of the 2000s, where they won outright or shared four conference championships.

But that's a long way down the road for the Illini, who would probably settle for getting back to making regular appearances in the NCAA Tournament. They were last invited to the Big Dance in John Groce's first season with the team (2012-13), and scraped some NIT invites during Groce's final four years in Champaign before he was relieved of his duties at the end of last season.

Underwood was hired as Illinois' new head coach after spending on season at Oklahoma State, where he led the Cowboys to a 20-13 record and a NCAA Tournament bid. He was previously the head coach at Stephen F. Austin, where he helped the Lumberjacks win three consecutive Southland Conference championships and made the NCAA Tournament in each of his three seasons - and advanced to the Round of 32 with wins over VCU in 2014 and West Virginia in 2016.

Unfortunately for the Illini it doesn't look like they'll be making an NCAA Tournament appearance this season. They started off the year on a high note by winning their first six games of the year, but they're off to an 0-6 start in Big Ten play and are sitting at the bottom of the heap in the conference standings. But don't let their record fool you - they've been competitive in almost every game this year, and have led in the second half in eight of their nine losses - and have lost their six conference games by an average of just 3.5 points per game.

Three players are currently averaging at least 10 points per game for the Illini: junior forward Leron Black (14.4 points), freshman guard Trent Frazier (11.0) and junior forward Michael Finke (10.6). They'll be looking to stop Wisconsin's 11-game winning streak over the Illini - their last win over the Badgers came on Jan. 2, 2011.

The Badgers are in a slump at the moment, but with a quick turnaround between their loss to Purdue and their game against Illinois they'll have to move on quickly from the blowout in West Lafayette if they want to stand a chance of getting things back on track.

There were certainly silver linings to be had in their loss to Purdue - most notably Nate Reuvers' defense against Isaac Haas - but if they want to maintain their winning streak over the Illini they'll need to see their shooting percentage tick up again. The Badgers made 48.9 percent of their shots in back-to-back games against Indiana and Rutgers, but they shot 42 percent against Nebraska and just 35.4 percent in Tuesday's loss to Purdue. They don't need to shoot the lights out against Illinois, but they can't afford to be a one-man show on offense - just having Ethan Happ hasn't been enough to keep them competitive in conference games so far.

But where that extra offense will come from is anyone's guess at this point. With Brad Davison still battling a shoulder injury that is almost certainly affecting his shot it might come down to getting Khalil Iverson and Nate Reuvers to contribute more in the paint - or getting Brevin Pritzl to heat up from behind the arc. Pritzl is just 3-for-16 from outside over Wisconsin's last three games.

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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.