MADISON, Wis. – The fact that Greg Gard had to pause and think when the last time his team had a day off shows how busy the University of Wisconsin has been.

The Badgers haven’t played a lot in volume over the past three weeks, but the location and spacing of the games have resulted in games played on both coasts and in three time zones with only one official off day.

The fact that the Badgers went 4-2 over that period following last night’s 76-64 victory over Indiana makes today's off day all that more enjoyable.

“This is stretch probably forced to take a harder look and really plan for it, and not react after we’ve been on a trip,” Gard said. “You get to this point of year you got to be fresh and be as healthy as possible.”

Wisconsin (18-5, 8-4 Big Ten) knew the addition of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington to the conference this season would bring different travel patterns. The league packaged road games at Oregon-Washington and UCLA and USC together to ease travel burdens, but the fact UW had to turn around and fly to Maryland less than a week later complicated matters.

Gard said the Wisconsin staff, strength and conditioning coach Jim Snider, and director of operations Marc VandeWettering had discussed timing and travel involving the two-game road trip to UCLA and USC since early fall.

UW decided to travel to the West Coast a day earlier than for a normal road trip to better acclimate to the time change. The team also stayed the night following its loss to UCLA rather than take a red-eye flight home, giving them a full night's rest and preventing a massive change to their sleep patterns. Since travel days don't count toward mandatory off days by the NCAA, UW's only off day since returning from Los Angeles was on January 23, two days before hosting Nebraska.

“It’s being very proactive with how we’re practicing, what we’re doing, a lot of recovery time,” Gard said. “Players need to be disciplined with their sleep, hydration, their eating habits. Jim Snider really has led the charge on what to do what day.”

Wisconsin has also started backing off the intensity or duration of practices, not uncommon considering the Badgers have been practicing since the beginning of September. After playing at Northwestern Saturday, Wisconsin had only two days to prep before hosting Indiana and chose to do a high-intensity, shorter practice the night before.

The thought process worked considering the Badgers jumped out to a 26-4 lead in less than eight minutes.

“This is stretch probably forced to take a harder look and really plan for it, and not react after we’ve been on a trip,” Gard said. “You get to this point of year, you got to be fresh and be as healthy as possible.”

UW can look to last season to see how injuries can negatively affect a group’s chemistry. The Badgers lost reserve guard Kamari McGee for 11 games with a foot injury and went 3-8 with him sidelined. Now starting point guard John Blackwell missed two games and was limited in a third following a hip injury. The Badgers were 1-2 without him.

Both players have been key pieces to Wisconsin’s offense. Blackwell is second on the team in scoring (15.2) and has shot 46.7 percent overall. McGee has been a spark off the bench and his 54.5 three-point percentage (30-55) is on pace to set a new school record.

“I feel like my last two years here I wasn’t always ready to shoot,” McGee said. “My teammates are actually finding me, so me being ready and having that confidence to knock it down.”

Recent UW opponents haven’t been as fortunate. Northwestern announced before its 75-69 loss to the Badgers that second-leading scorer Brooks Barnhizer was being shut down for the remainder of the season with a broken foot.

On Monday, Iowa said leading scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker Owen Freeman would miss the rest of the season following finger surgery. UW will play at Iowa (13-9, 4-7) this Saturday afternoon.

“You have to manage and be proactive with your team and your individuals,” Gard said. “(You) really pay attention to the professions in that world. This world has changed so much. We do so much testing and precautionary stuff. I think you are more aware of those things than ever.

“You can’t prevent injuries. Things can happen, but you are trying to use all the resources in your power to try to prevent as much as possible … Injuries usually happen, not all of them, when you get to a fatigue state. That’s why how you practice, how long you practice, when you practice, all those things as you go through a season, because fatigue continues to build. It’s usually a continuation effect then you have something happen.”

For as busy as the Badgers have been, reprieve is coming. UW gets its mini-Big Ten bye following its road game at Iowa and time to rest before playing at No.7 Purdue for the only time in the regular season.

With Michigan State going 0-2 on its West Coast trip, the Boilermakers moved a half-game ahead of the Spartans for first place in the standings. In fifth place in the league under tiebreakers, Wisconsin is two games behind Purdue with eight to play. The Badgers also play at Michigan State on March 2.

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