MADISON, Wis. - The No. 12 Wisconsin Badgers (8-1, 2-0 Big Ten) will head back out on the road this weekend to renew their I-94 rivalry with the Marquette Golden Eagles (7-2, 0-0 Big East) on Saturday at the Fiserv Forum, with tip-off scheduled for 4:00 p.m. CST.

This year the Badgers will be looking to make up for last season's 82-63 loss to the Golden Eagles at the Kohl Center, earning back some bragging rights in a game that UW senior forward Ethan Happ said grew more important to him as his career at Wisconsin progressed.

"I think as the years grow it becomes more of a player thing," Happ said on Thursday when asked if the Wisconsin-Marquette game means more to the players or the fans of the two schools. "When I first got here, I'm from Illinois, so I was just trying to win a basketball game. Over the years (and) after seeing a lot of Marquette fans talk trash on Twitter and all these things, it becomes a win that you want more (than as) just a basketball game. You want bragging rights."

Part of the rivalry's status as a slow burn could be because the Badgers don't have a many players on their roster who grew up watching the Badgers do battle with the Golden Eagles every year. The Badgers have just four Wisconsin natives (out of 17 players) on their roster this year - the same number as the Golden Eagles, incidentally.

But that doesn't mean the Badgers aren't familiar with the players who they will be competing against this weekend. Sophomore guard Brad Davison is a Minnesota native - but his father Jim played college basketball with Dave Hauser, the father of Marquette forwards Sam and Joey Hauser, so the two families have always been close. Maybe that's why Davison said after practice on Thursday that he looks at the UW-Marquette game as just one more chance for the Badgers to test themselves, rather than a bitter rivalry.

"I think it's definitely more of a fan thing," Davison said Thursday. "There's that cross-town rivalry thing ... I'm from Minnesota where I don't have another Division 1 school, but it's obviously a big deal for the fans. And it's a big game for us too. It's an opportunity to get a big win on the road in a really cool arena ... it's a challenge, but it's also an opportunity that we're really looking forward to."

But now matter how his players look at the game, UW head coach Greg Gard said that at the end of the day the annual Wisconsin-Marquette game is good for the game of basketball in Wisconsin, and that anything the players bring with them into the game - like memories of previous years' matchups or relationships with players on the other bench - don't matter when it's time for tip-off.

"It's great for the state, it's great for the game of basketball in the state," Gard said Thursday. "When the ball goes up, I don't think it matters who is in the other jerseys. You're trying to play the game as well as possible and they're trying to do the same thing. We'll turn the page and be on to the next and they'll be on to their next."

Only time will tell if the Badgers will be able to keep one particular streak alive when they move on to their next home game: the road team has won six of the last eight games between the Badgers and the Golden Eagles, with Wisconsin's last loss in Milwaukee coming in 2012.

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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.