MADISON — Life on the road in the Big Ten this season has been unforgiving to say the least.

Even the best teams in the conference have waltzed into arenas in which they’re heavily favored, only to fall at the hands of a feisty team ferociously defending their home court.

The Badgers know this all too well — on Jan. 16, 11th-ranked Wisconsin strolled into Happy Valley to face an unranked, struggling Penn State squad. The Nittany Lions proceeded to drop 87 on the Badgers in a stunning victory. The Nittany Lion faithful stormed the court in jubilation.

Purdue, the current No. 2 team in the nation, has arguably the most dominant player in the sport in Zach Edey and arguably the most impressive resume with wins over Tennessee, Arizona, Marquette and Alabama. Their two losses? At Northwestern, and at Nebraska.

Illinois is currently ranked No. 10 in the nation. That will soon change, however, as they recently fell victim to the road game deathtrap, dropping a rivalry game to Northwestern in a sold-out Welsh-Ryan Arena.

So what makes road games in this conference such a toss-up?

“Being at your home place is something different,” guard AJ Storr said. “Guys practice there almost every day, plus you have your fans on your side.”

Storr is getting a crash course in the Big Ten after transferring from St. Johns, where he competed in the Big East. The sophomore says there’s a noticeable difference between the two conferences.

“The Big Ten has a little more support, the crowd is more packed.”

Still, raucous crowds are nothing new to Storr — the Big East is littered with legendary venues. Without much hesitation, Storr said that Gampel Pavilion, where the UConn Huskies play, is the toughest road environment in his old conference.

The crowds, and particularly the student section, play an enormous role in the atmosphere of a game in the Big Ten. Point Guard Chucky Hepburn says in order to win on the road, it’s vital to take the crowd out of the game immediately.

“When you give teams confidence, like we did against Minnesota, the crowd gets into it, the opponent gets into it, and then shots just start falling,” he said. “They get that confidence, and it seems like the rim is an ocean. Whatever shots (they’re taking) are gonna hit. It’s gonna be our job on the road to shut teams’ confidence down early.”

Crowds in the Big Ten are ruthless, even in some of the smaller arenas in the conference. If you give them anything to get noisy about as the visiting team, you’re playing an extremely dangerous game.

That can transcend the game itself — students do their homework on the opposing team. Look no further than Northwestern’s aforementioned upset of Illinois, in which the Wildcat faithful made life miserable for Illini guard Terrance Shannon Jr, who is currently facing a rape charge. Even on the television broadcast, audible, intermittent chants of “guilty” and “no means no” were loud and clear.

Particularly hostile environments are one of the reasons that it often takes an extra gear to win on the road. On paper, you may be the better team. But in someone else’s house, that’s not always enough.

“If you are going to go out and win on the road, you’re not just going to outshoot them or out skill them or out execute them. You got to be tough. You got to have some grit to you, some toughness to you,” assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft said. “When you go on the road, that’s something you can always lean on and be able to come on top on the road if you do those little things well.”

There’s also a very human aspect to the bloodbath that is life on the road in the Big Ten. These aren’t (technically) professional athletes, these are college kids.

“It could be the long schedule we have, the travel day. You’re in there the day before and out the next, so that could play a role,” forward Tyler Wahl said. “And I feel like being in a routine, where you’re at home, you wake up in your own bed, you get your own breakfast, all this kinda stuff. I think it all plays in.”

So what are some of the toughest arenas in the conference in the eyes of the players? The disparity in answers illuminates just how ruthless the Big Ten is from top to bottom.

Through close to a half season in the league, Storr says the toughest venue he’s played at so far is the Breslin Center in East Lansing. For Hepburn, it’s Purdue at Mackey Arena, with Assembly Hall in Bloomington as an honorable mention. For Wahl, it’s the State Farm Center in Champaign, a place the 5th-year senior has never won.

Going on the road in the Big Ten requires a different level of toughness, both mental and physical. You need the “mindset to kill,” as Storr put it. But when you do pick up that win away from home? There’s few better feelings.

“It feels great to go into someone else’s arena and win,” Storr said. “Winning (in Madison) is definitely special, but me personally, I like winning on the road better.”

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