Preview: Wisconsin closes out regular season on the road against No. 5 Iowa

No. 25 Wisconsin (16-10, 10-9) vs. No. 5 Iowa (19-7, 13-6)

Game: Sunday, March 7 inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena (Iowa City, Iowa)

Time: 11:30 AM

Watch: FOX (Adam Amin and Donny Marshall)

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

Line: Wisconsin +6 (DraftKings)

Prediction: Iowa 74, Wisconsin 65

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Coming off its fourth loss in six games, Wisconsin's gauntlet of a final regular season stretch doesn't get any easier Sunday. The Badgers are set to play their fifth ranked opponent in six games against a red-hot Iowa squad. UW will be looking to notch its first win over a ranked opponent since Dec. 31 when it topped Minnesota, the No. 21 team in the country at the time.

As stout as the Hawkeyes have been on the offensive end all season, their defense is finally catching up. Iowa has won six of its last seven contests and have held seven of its last eight opponents to fewer than 70 points.

The Hawkeyes defense had been at the bottom of the conference for much of the season but has bumped up to 11th. That end of the floor still isn't a strength of Iowa's, by any means, but it doesn't need to be great with the third best offense in the country at 85.3 points per game.

Leading the way for Iowa is center Luka Garza, whose 23.9 points per game is third best in the country. The 6-foot-11 big man proved to be a handful for UW's front court in the first meeting of the season. He tallied 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including 4-of-6 from deep.

Joe Wieskamp, a sharpshooter all season for Iowa, also torched the Badgers earlier this year. The junior guard was Iowa's second leading scorer with 17 points, going 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.

Wisconsin didn't do itself any favors in the first matchup between these two schools. It opened up a 14-3 hole and started the game 3-of-22 from the floor. The Badgers finished the night shooting 21-of-70 overall.

"Just trying to find that flow and that rhythm and that continuity has been the area we're trying to hit. Trying to find that has been the challenge," said head coach Greg Gard. "Going through (the Iowa) film again, we did get some good things early and we have to convert those, but that's been an ongoing challenge as we've gone through the year is trying to become more consistent offensively. Some of it is on shot selection, some of it is on finishing in the paint, some of it is getting in the paint more, so all of those things have been a focal point.

"Nothing has been normal about the preparation, so I think that's one of the many reasons why we've had some issues hitting our stride offensively."

Fran McCaffery's group is down forward Jack Nunge for the rest of the year after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in late February. Nunge was a key contributor off the bench, averaging 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

This will be the 169th meeting between the two programs with Wisconsin owning a slim 85-83 edge. Iowa is 52-30 at home in the series but UW has won four of the last six contests in Iowa City.