Wisconsin Basketball Adds Two Tough Tune-Ups Before Big Ten Play
MADISON, Wis. – By the time the University of Wisconsin heads into conference play, the Badgers will have played the desired seven nonconference games. How the staff got there, however, is anything but routine, a phrase that has become commonplace in society in 2020.
With a canceled game and more shuffling of the deck, the Badgers find themselves with a quality opponent in Loyola (Ill.) Tuesday night at the Kohl Center and a rescheduling of the postponed game with No.23 Louisville Saturday morning at the same venue.
“Welcome to 2020,” head coach Greg Gard said Monday, “in terms of the ever-changing schedule.”
Much like how the Badgers ended up playing Rhode Island last Wednesday, No.12 Wisconsin’s route to a full week of games is anything but a straight line.
Word got to the Wisconsin staff Saturday that Northern Iowa was likely to cancel its final two nonconference games before Missouri Valley Conference play, a move the Panthers confirmed with a press release Sunday morning. With the Badgers unable to schedule a game over the weekend, UW needed to add something to avoid going 12 days without a game.
Posing the question to his players about what the staff should do, Gard said the comments were clear: find the best teams you can find.
“That’s what they wanted, so we went after the best we could get in the amount of time we had,” Gard said. “That’s why they come here and want to play at this level. If we could line up seven in a row that were heavyweight fights, they would do it … This group doesn’t have any fear.”
With Loyola (Ill.) located near Northwestern’s campus, the drive for the Ramblers to Madison – and the fact they were available after having a game canceled this upcoming Wednesday – made it an attractive option. The deal was struck late Saturday night/early Sunday morning.
A team that still has a handful of pieces from the 2018 Final Four team, the Ramblers - ranked third in the mid-major top 25 - have a similar makeup to Wisconsin. Both teams are top 60 in offensive efficiency, top 40 in defensive efficiency, play fewer than 69 possessions per game and have versatile big men in the low post.
Loyola (Ill.) 6-9 center Cameron Krutwig averaged 22.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in two wins last week and has scored over 1,400 points and secured over 700 rebounds.
“They’ve got really good players and they are in a system that allows them to be successful,” Gard said. “They don’t beat themselves (and) they guard really help. That’s why it’s such a great matchup for us because it’s really going to test us in a lot of areas, primarily with Krutwig and the things he can do inside and how he finds other teammates.”
Getting the replacement for Northern Iowa was just the start. In order to play a seventh nonconference game, Wisconsin was in talks to replace Virginia and play No.7 Villanova at New York’s Madison Square Garden. That situation changed Sunday and opened the door for Louisville to get back on the schedule. The Cardinals’ ACC opener Wednesday against N.C. State was postponed because of positive tests within the Wolfpack’s program.
UW was supposed to play Louisville on Dec.9 but the game was postponed because of positive tests within the Cardinals program. Getting the game confirmed Sunday, the 18 days between Louisville's last game on Dec. 1 against Western Kentucky and Saturday will be its longest in-season stretch without a game in 54 years.
“We wanted to have a really good team, which we’ve got two in a row here heading into league play,” Gard said. “It’s what our guys wanted.”
With the upcoming short turnaround between the Louisville game and UW’s conference opener against Nebraska, Gard said that Wisconsin has been in contact with the Big Ten and the Huskers about possibly moving the game back from Monday to Tuesday. The Huskers appear to be flexible considering there was talk about moving their game with Wisconsin to December 17 to accommodate a potential UW game against Tennessee.
These two games this week represent the last opponents Wisconsin will play who don’t do daily coronavirus testing, but Gard cautioned that late surprised are still in the realm of possibility once Big Ten play starts.
“It depends on what happens is there are positive tests,” “Is it one? Is it five? Does it become a problem where there needs to be a pause? I think the one thing hopefully the bumpiness of this smooths out a little bit. If there is a positive on either side once we get into league play, we can just remove that individual.
“it varies also from state to state on the contact tracing. (Wisconsin) is one of the more stringent. Other states across the league is different. We’re all playing out of a different playbook not only from how we are doing from a university, but the counties and states school reside in.
“I would hope it smooths out a little bit, but it’s not going to eradicate the coronavirus.”