Preview: Wisconsin welcomes Michigan to Madison to open tough final stretch

No. 21 Wisconsin (15-6, 9-5) vs. No. 3 Michigan (13-1, 8-1)

Game: Sunday, Feb. 14 inside the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

Time: 12:00

Watch: CBS (Kevin Harlan and Bill Raftery)

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

Sunday afternoon, Wisconsin welcomes No. 3 Michigan to the Kohl Center after suffering an ugly 77-54 loss in Arn Arbor back in early January. With just six regular season games remaining, the Badgers are entering a daunting final stretch that includes five matchups against ranked opponents.

The meeting will be the ultimate test of UW's ability to avenge a conference loss. Wisconsin has not been swept by an opponent since the 2017-2018 season and has passed both tests to this point, easily handling Penn State and Maryland earlier this year.

In Wisconsin's previous meeting with the Wolverines, the game turned with just over five minutes to go in the first half. Michigan would close on a 14-0 run to enter the half up 40-23. The rout was on after that.

"I've watched the game at least two or three times," senior guard D'Mitrik Trice said. "There were a lot of different things that played into why they were able to open up the lead as well as they did. There were key turnovers at the end of the first half, we weren’t finishing very well and we got away from what makes Wisconsin very good.

"We weren’t guarding the way we know how to guard. I think that’ll be the biggest thing coming into the game is on the defensive end and shutting down their transition points and just playing a little more aggressive on both ends."

In its bid to bounce back and pull off the upset, UW will have to rely almost solely on the film from Jan. 12. Since then, Michigan has played just three more games - its last contest was 23 days ago against Purdue due to a pause of the entire athletic department. They recently returned to practice this past Friday.

It will be interesting to see how Michigan starts given its long break. The group, of course, remains the same. Mike Smith, who led Michigan with 16 points in the first meeting, leads the conference with 5.6 assists per game. Hunter Dickinson, a five-time conference freshman of the week, failed to hit double figures in each of the past three games, the only times this season he finished in single digits. Despite his recent struggles, Dickinson still leads Michigan in scoring (15.1), rebounding (7.2) and blocks (1.4).

Rounding out the lineup are wings Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner. Livers, Michigan's second leading scorer, has finished in double figures in 12 of 14 contests. Wagner has become a pest on the defensive end, leading the Wolverines with 20 steals and is behind only Dickinson with 17 blocks. Wagner had a ton of success in the first meeting against Wisconsin, shooting 7 of 10 from the field. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and came away with four steals.

"Who knows? I think that's the million dollar question," Brad Davison said when asked what kind of impact the long layoff will have. "I think the whole country is excited to see what they look like. We hope they’re a little rusty, we hope we can jump on them early. We’ve been through a lot. There’s a lot of things they’ll have to figure out. But, ultimately, we’re focused on us and the way we can execute moving forward.”

Wisconsin is hoping to find its shooting touch as a team. In their past four games, the Badgers have shot better than 28 percent from three just once. And in three of the past six games, they have shot 28 percent or worse from deep. UW was able to leave Nebraska with a win despite shooting 32.3 percent from the field and 28.1 percent from deep, but those numbers would make for another ugly result against the Wolverines.

Sunday marks the 170th meeting between the two schools, with Michigan leading the series, 96-73. Wisconsin holds a 46-35 record in Madison.