Preview: No. 9 Wisconsin looks to bounce back against Rutgers at the RAC

No. 9 Wisconsin (10-3, 4-2) vs. Rutgers (7-4, 3-4)

Game: Friday, Jan. 15 inside the Rutgers Athletic Center; Piscataway, New Jersey

Time: 8:00 PM

Watch: FS1 (Brian Custer and Jim Sparnakel)

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

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Looking to bounce back after the beating it took against Michigan on Tuesday evening, No. 9 Wisconsin is set to take on unranked Rutgers.

UW won't be the only team looking to get its mojo back Friday evening. The Scarlet Knights come into the matchup losers of three straight and four of their last five. After winning their first two games in Big Ten play, including a nice win over then-No. 13 Illinois, Rutgers has quickly fallen to 3-4 in league play.

Leading the way for Rutgers is a group of familiar faces. The Scarlet Knights returned all but one of their top eight leading scorers from a season ago.

Rutgers has been headlined by breakout seasons from Ron Harper Jr. and Jacob Young. Harper Jr. has upped his scoring average from 12.1 to 20.1 points per game, good for fourth best in the Big Ten, and is shooting at a 51 percent clip from the field. Young, who joined Harper Jr. in the starting lineup this season, is the team's second leading scorer at 15.5 points per game. He also leads the Big Ten with 2.4 steals per contest.

Rounding out the starting group is the trio of Montez Mathis, Geo Baker and Myles Johnson; Caleb McConnell and Paul Mulcahy provide a spark off the bench. Johnson, a bruising center, is fifth in the Big Ten with 8.5 rebounds per game. He is also second in the conference with 2.1 rejections. Mulcahy has started seven games this season while filling in for Baker during his absence. McConnell was out of action for the first eight games of the season but is coming off a season-high 12 points against Ohio State.

One of the keys to beating Rutgers has been limiting its offensive leader, Harper Jr. Over its four losses this season, Harper is averaging only 14.3 points - he ups his game to 24 points a game in wins.

Leading the way offensively for Wisconsin over the past few games have been seniors Micah Potter and D'Mitrik Trice. Potter has been a consistent option, finishing in double figures four of the past five games. Trice has been UW's leader during Big Ten play, averaging 22.0 points over the past five contests.

Conversely, Brad Davison has fallen off significantly. The senior guard has scored a combined 21 points and is shooting 8-of-31 from the field. A senior who has started in 106 straight contests, Davison hasn't let his confidence waiver during the tough shooting stretch.

"No not necessarily. I'm very confident with my shot," Davison said when asked if he had been looking to get to the rim more given his recent shooting woes. "I know that averages always average out, so if you haven't hit a couple that doesn't mean you should stop shooting, that means you should look for it because that means that the next ones are going to go in."

Against the Wolverines, Wisconsin only managed to draw nine fouls. Post-game, Gard also pointed to the mere six fouls committed as a sign of UW's lack of aggression.

"The biggest thing is to be aggressive and making sure we’re running our offense and doing what we do as a basketball team, offensively," Potter, who joked that he accounted for a third of the team's fouls, told reporters Thursday morning. "Forcing our will, getting inside, getting strong, taking it towards the hoop, not fading away and different things like that. In a road environment it’ll be tougher to get calls. That’s the way it is anywhere, so making sure we’re taking advantage of the opportunities that we get."

Friday marks the 12th all-time meeting between the two programs with Wisconsin leading, 8-3. UW is just 1-3 away from Madison with its lone win at the RAC coming during the 2004-05 season before Rutgers joined the Big Ten.