MBB Preview: Golden Eagles visit Madison to renew I-94 Rivalry

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," some say.

For the Wisconsin Badgers (4-6, 1-1) and Marquette Golden Eagles (6-3), just a stretch of the state's iconic Interstate 94 separates the two basketball programs.

However, for 40 minutes on Saturday morning, this separation will be no more.

Game information and team previews are below.

Game: Dec. 9, 2017 at the Kohl Center

Time: 11:00 a.m. CDT

Watch: FS1

Listen: BadgerSports Network (iHeartRadio)

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

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

Golden Eagles Pre-Game Notes:

The Golden Eagles soar into Madison boasting a 6-3 record, winners of their last four out of five games and surging upwards in the Big East Conference. As highlighted by the team's recent production, Marquette hopes to flip the script after falling to the Badgers 84-93 in Milwaukee last year.

This season, the dynamic guard duo of sophomore Markus Howard (22.4 ppg) and senior Andrew Rowsey (21.6 ppg) are key contributors on a team scoring a combined 82.6 ppg, which ranks fourth overall in the Big East.

Specifically, Howard figures to be the biggest problem for the young Badgers' defense. Not only is Howard shooting over 50 percent from the field, the sophomore is a perfect 26-26 from the free-throw line in 2017.

As a result, after witnessing UW's late-choice fouls on Temple sharpshooter Shizz Alston Jr. (who shot 6-6 from the line against UW and has converted 52 consecutive foul shots), perhaps forcing the foul onto other Golden Eagles is the appropriate strategy if the game is close in crunch time.

Although Howard has been the team's rising star thus far, MU head coach Steve Wojciechowski is not relying solely on the sophomore star. The team boasts eight players all shooting over 40 percent from the field and the two outliers on the 10-man roster are averaging just three minutes/game.

If the Golden Eagles hope to take this year's in-state bragging rights, players should focus on applying pressure on the UW freshmen. Currently, only five Badgers (Ethan Happ, Charles Thomas, Alex Illikainen, D'Mitrik Trice and Khalil Iverson) boast minutes against Marquette. Thus, exploiting any inexperience from the impressive debut of the UW freshmen will force the struggling upperclassmen to contribute (for better or for worse).

Badgers' Pre-Game Notes:

After Wisconsin's 55-59 loss against Temple on Wednesday, head coach Greg Gard confessed his team continues to struggle finishing games.

"We need to make better decisions, finish plays in the paint and do some things better defensively," Gard said on Wednesday. "We’ll get over the hump."

Yet, the height of this hump is still unknown with the Badgers extending their late-game struggle as mid-December nears. For example, in four games this season UW was tied or within two points with only two minutes remaining. Regardless, these four crunch-time moments all resulted in tough losses for a program trying to drown out the outside noise and play Wisconsin basketball.

In order to play Wisconsin basketball, Saturday's matchup against Marquette serves as a good starting point. The Badgers are 1-4 as the visiting team or when playing at neutral sites in comparison to a 3-2 record in Madison.

Against Marquette, Gard can extend UW's winning streak against MU if his players capitalize off turnovers. Although Marquette is turning the ball over roughly 12 times/game, Wisconsin is scoring just 12 points off turnovers.

Evidently, the Badgers could build a lead if they force MU to make the mistakes. However, if the Badgers begin to falter, the Golden Eagles will make UW pay for their errors.

Coach's Corner

Marquette: Head coach Steve Wojciechowski is in his fourth year as head coach of MU and during his previous time as an assistant coach at Duke, the Blue Devils boasted a 441-92 record and competed in the NCAA tournament every year "Wojo" was a part of the staff.

Wisconsin: Head coach Greg Gard has experienced rough waters before. Currently, UW holds a below .500 record through 10 games for the first time since 2001-02, when Gard was an assistant under former head coach Bo Ryan.