MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin Badgers are still waiting for more test results to come back on sophomore guard Trevor Anderson's right knee, which he appeared to re-injure during UW's win over Iowa on Friday night in Iowa City.

A UW official said after Wisconsin's practice on Sunday that Anderson did not practice with the team as they prepare for their upcoming game against Rutgers on Monday night, and that the team might know more about his status in the run-up to that game, which is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m. CST.

Playing in his first season for the Badgers after he transferred from UW-Green Bay and was forced to sit out the 2017-18 campaign, Anderson has played in all eight of Wisconsin's games this season, averaging 6.9 minutes per game while backing up D'Mitrik Trice at point guard.

If Anderson does have to miss an extended amount of time the Badgers will likely have to give more minutes to true freshman point guard Tai Strickland in order to keep Trice fresh during games. Strickland has only played sparingly in six games for Wisconsin so far, but UW head coach Greg Gard said after practice that the 6-foot-2, 172-pound Florida native is eager to please and ready to take on whatever role the Badgers give him.

"I think he's coming. He's obviously a freshman," Gard said Sunday. "There's things he does really well and there's obviously ... (things) he hasn't experienced yet as a freshman. That's kind of why we've been spoon-feeding him, so to speak, as we come through this."

Gard said that Strickland has come a long way over the last two months since the Badgers first started practicing this season - to the point where he should be ready now for a larger workload if the Badgers need him.

"He's come a long way in the last six to eight weeks," Gard said of Strickland. "Eight weeks ago he was not ready for this. I've seen gradual growth and improvement, and we're just trying to sprinkle him in and have him ready. The opportunity may come at any point in time because I think he brings some things to the table that we can use."

Coming off of a narrow 78-69 loss to No. 9 Michigan State, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (5-2, 0-1 Big Ten) seem to have taken another step forward in their third season under head coach Steve Pikiell. The Scarlet Knights were 15-18 in his first season in Piscataway and 15-19 last year, but Greg Gard said he sees a tough defensive team when the Badgers watch them on tape - something they should remember after last year's 64-60 loss to the Scarlet Knights on the road. But Gard said he thinks Rutgers has added a little more offensive versatility this season, so the Badgers will need to understand that nothing is going to come easy for them on Monday night.

"Steve (Pikiell) has done a good job of establishing a defensive-minded culture, and how hard they play," Gard said Sunday. "Those things have been constant. I think they've been able to incorporate more shooters in to their lineup - you've seen some improvement in some guys that were there a year ago."

"Obviously Baker does a great job with the ball in his hands, Omoruyi might be one of the most improved players in the league. And they have added some other pieces. They've kept that same defensive-minded, play hard on every possession mentality. Nothing is going to come easy. They're a very sound team on the defensive end that has added more scoring options to their lineup."

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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.