No.14 Wisconsin's First Chance at a Retest Comes at Maryland

MADISON, Wis. – When it came to a retest, the University of Wisconsin got straight A’s during the 2019-20 basketball season, scores that helped deliver the school its 19th Big Ten championship. The Badgers’ ability – or inability – to equal that task this season will determine whether they can repeat as conference champions.

After going 6-0 last season when facing a team for the second time, Wisconsin will face its first repeat opponent when it faces Maryland Wednesday night at the Xfinity Center.

The Badgers – which dropped four spots to No.14 in Monday’s AP poll – have struggled to piece together momentum in an unusual season. Wisconsin (12-4, 6-3 Big Ten) has yet to win more than two consecutive conference games, a pattern that continued with Saturday’s 74-62 home loss to No.15 Ohio State in which the Badgers never led.

“You just got to remain confident,” senior Micah Potter said. “We want to be playing our best basketball in March. We’re getting closer to March, but we’re still not there yet. It’s a learning process. Being able to go back and watch film, learn from our mistakes, making sure we’re getting better every single day because come March, it’s go time.”

Approaching the midpoint in the season, Wisconsin sits in a third-place tie with Illinois and trails second-place Iowa by a half game and first-place Michigan by two. It’s a better spot than the Badgers were a year ago when they were in seventh place, but a deficit that UW dug itself out because of a mini-redemption tour.

Of the six Big Ten teams Wisconsin played twice last season, the Badgers were 3-3 in the first matchup. To avenge those three losses and finish the season 9-1, UW evidently learned some lessons. To recap:

· In its first Big Ten road game, Wisconsin gave up 42 points in the paint, 14 offensive rebounds and 23 second-chance points in a 72-65 loss to Rutgers. When the two met more than two months later, the Badgers – now with Micah Potter in the lineup – again allowed 42 points in the paint, but only gave up seven offensive rebounds and six second-chance points in a 79-71 win.

· Giving up 38 points in the paint and allowing Michigan State to shoot 46.6 percent in a 12-point loss in East Lansing, the Badgers limited the Spartans to 18 points in the lane and just 39.7 percent in a 64-63 home victory that broke an 8-game skid to the Spartans.

· After being outscored 19-2 in second-chance points, Wisconsin closed the gap to 19-12 and that was enough to scratch out a 69-65 win.

“We see how they got us last time; they showed weaknesses or maybe things that we didn’t do well, and they took advantage of us,” senior guard Brad Davison said. “We try to take those away, try to take away your weaknesses and continue to build on your strengths. Once you see them a second time, you are a little more comfortable.

“With that also being said, I think your team develops, too. Regardless of when you play them a second time, your team has more experience, you’ve played with each other longer, you’ve been through the ups and downs, become tighter as a unit … Whenever you lose to them the first time, having them a second time is a huge blessing that we look forward to playing.”

The low-post problems that plagued Wisconsin last season have been a known sore spot this season, as the Badgers have given up at least 38 points in the paint in four of the last seven games. That stretch started against Maryland (9-7, 3-6), as the Terrapins’ guard-oriented lineup shot 64.0 percent (16-for-26) in the second half in large part of their ability to get high-percentage looks around the rim.

That allowed guard Eric Ayala (17 second-half points) and forward Donta Scott (10) to account for over half of Maryland’s 46 second-half points in its 70-64 victory.

“Because of how they play and matchup wise, there’s a lot of challenges that get put on the floor,” head coach Greg Gard said of the Terps. “It’s going to test our adherence to rules and discipline within our system. We’ve got to be better on the ball in terms of containing dribble penetration initially but also in the layers that build our defense. Probably more than any other team because of the lineup, they challenge (our rules) more than any other team in the league.”

Another reason for UW’s flawless record in repeat games last season was four of those rematches were at home, but home is no longer the home advantage without packed arena because of COVID-19. Road teams were 44-94 in league play (.319) last season and just 25-34 (.424) to this point.

The Badgers are 2-1 in league road games that include winning at Michigan State and Rutgers for the first time since 2004. A win would give the Badgers a 3-1 conference road start for the fourth time in the last five seasons and allow them to past their first retest of the season.

“We’re not satisfied with where we are, but we also know we’re right where we need to be,” Davison said. “We know we’re in striking distance to achieve all that we want to achieve this year. We’ve just got to keep moving forward, keep getting better every day and if we focus on the right things, value things on the defensive side of the floor, we’ll be right where we need to be at the end of the year.”