Preview: No. 21 Wisconsin looks for sixth straight win over Northwestern

No. 21 Wisconsin (15-8, 9-7) vs. Northwestern (6-13, 3-12)

Game: Sunday, Feb. 21 inside the Welsh-Ryan arena in Evanston, Illinois

Time: 6:00 PM

Watch: BTN (Brandon Gaudin and Stephen Bardo)

Listen: 1310 WIBA AM and 101.5 FM (Matt Lepay and Mike Lucas on the call); stream online on iHeartRadio

Line: Wisconsin -6.5 (FanDuel)

Prediction: Wisconsin 72, Northwestern 54

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Coming off back-to-back losses to Michigan and Iowa, Wisconsin has an opportunity to regain some confidence Sunday evening against Northwestern. The Wildcats opened Big Ten play with a trio of wins but are reeling after losing 12 straight contests.

Northwestern's last victory came all the way back on Dec. 26 over then-No. 23 Ohio State. The 12 consecutive defeats are a staggering number but the Wildcats have been playing competitive basketball as of late, highlighted by a close loss this week to No. 5 Illinois.

In the six games since the last meeting between the two programs, Northwestern has lost three of six by five points or less and five of six by no more than eight points. Its most recent loss - 73-66 against Illinois on Wednesday - was a back-and-forth affair until the final minutes.

Chase Audige, who led NU with 16 points against UW earlier this year, poured in 22 against the Fighting Illini. Audige knocked down a trio of shots from deep against Illinois and went 4-of-5 from three against Wisconsin earlier in the season. Junior big Pete Nance, the team's second leading scorer with 14 against Illinois, nearly had a double-double in the first meeting against UW.

Redshirt junior Anthony Gaines has started the last four games for Northwestern, replacing Boo Buie in the starting lineup. Gaines was one of three players to log at least 34 minutes against Illinois. Buie now provides a jolt of energy off the bench as the team's fourth leading scorer, averaging 9.0 points per contest, and is tops on the team with 4.3 assists per game.

The Badgers cruised to a win in the previous meeting between the two programs. Sophomore Tyler Wahl had a career-high 14 points and senior Micah Potter got things rolling with the team's first seven points.

Northwestern's defense ranks dead last in Big Ten play, as the Wildcats are giving up 75.7 points per contest. Since conference play started, Chris Collins' group has allowed teams to shoot 46.2 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from three, both of which would be Wisconsin's best shooting performance since it hosted Penn State back on Feb. 2.

"We’ve had our string of tougher games and every time they bounce back in practice. I usually get a pretty good vibe the next day," head coach Greg Gard said Thursday evening. "Yeah, are they not happy tonight, upset? Yeah. That’s good because then that means that it means something. But I always gauge that the next day or the next time I see them - if it happens to be an off day, and every time they’ve come back. We’ve talked about that, you don’t have time to dwell on it, let’s move on to the next one. We’ll correct the things that need to be corrected, but we don’t have time to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves.

"To this point they’ve consistently bounced back and I think they understand that. It’s a resilient group. Of course, we’re frustrated and, specifically offensively, want to be doing better things. But we have to keep pushing through it and continue to clean up the things that we can control and get ready for the next game because this league is not going to give us any mercy or any passes to the next opponent, so it is what it is."

Sunday night will be the 188th meeting between the two programs. Wisconsin leads the series, 118-69, including a 42-39 record in Evanston. UW will looking for their sixth straight over the Wildcats.