Preview: Wisconsin set for a rematch with Iowa

Wisconsin (17-11, 10-10) vs. No. 5 Iowa (20-7, 14-6)

Game: Friday, March 12 inside Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis, Indiana)

Time: Approximately 8:00 PM

Watch: Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler 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 +4.5

Prediction: Wisconsin 71, Iowa 68

Follow Online: The Badgers' Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Thursday evening, Wisconsin avoided an early exit from the Big Ten tournament with a 75-74 victory over Penn State. The win sets up a rematch of the regular season finale with Iowa, which defeated UW, 77-73, last week.

"Survive and advance," Aleem Ford said following the win Thursday night. "It's all about surviving and winning games right now."

Iowa could be down its second leading scorer, Joe Wieskamp, who rolled his ankle against UW. Wieskamp was held out of practice Tuesday, the last time head coach Fran McCaffery met with the media. Wieskamp opened the game 5-for-5 against Wisconsin and scored 12 points before his injury.

"He was a little better yesterday, a little better today. He won’t practice today. So we’ll see," McCaffery said during the weekly press conference on Tuesday. "He is literally day-to-day, so we’ll see how he is today, tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”

Whether or not the shooting forward is available, the offense still runs through Luka Garza, who took home Big Ten Player of the Year honors after averaging 23.8 points per game during the regular season. Garza totaled 30 points in the first meeting but was held in check to 21 points in the regular season finale.

Fellow senior Jordan Bohannon also proved to be a handful for the Badgers last week. He scored 10 of 16 points in the final four minutes and, bad call or not, drew a fifth foul on D'Mitrik Trice that knocked Trice out of the contest.

While Wisconsin was just one bucket from elimination against Penn State, it put together one of its best performances of the season. UW shot 46.3 percent from the floor, hit 12-of-23 threes, went 13-of-15 from the line and turned it over just eight times, but needed a stop to seal the deal.

Thursday's biggest takeaway was the resurgence of Nate Reuvers, Brad Davison and Ford, as the trio went 10-17 from beyond the arc. Ford led the Badgers with 17 points and Davison was just behind with 15 points. The win created a third tilt with Iowa, a team that swept them in the regular season.

"Seeing them on Friday will be another heated battle for 40 minutes, but I think it's always hard to beat a team three times in one season," Trice said. "I think that we're right there and we're clicking at the right time, so I'm excited to handle first whoever we have Thursday. But that potential is definitely there and we're definitely looking forward to it."

The tournament quarterfinal will be the 170th meeting between the two programs with Wisconsin owning a slim 85-84 edge. UW has won 16 of the last 26 matchups but was swept by the Hawkeyes this season.