MADISON, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin accomplished something it hadn’t done in 20 years Friday night, but no noticeable victory laps were being taken by head coach Greg Gard and his three-player panel. Well, maybe a slight one by his point guard.

Wisconsin had just finished sweeping Michigan State in the regular season for the first time since 2003-04, doing it by a combined 28 points and never trailing in either matchup, when Chucky Hepburn said he believed that Wisconsin could be good dating back to the summer during open-gym sessions. He cited the depth, the talent, and the hunger from a group irritated after missing last year’s NCAA Tournament and finishing 11th in the league.

“Nobody is soft on this team,” Hepburn said. “Nobody has a soft mind. Nobody is selfish on this team. We all want to compete, we all want to win, we all have the same goal, which is the national championship and the Big Ten championships. We’re going to continue to work for that and continue to get better. We still got a lot of improving to do.”

The Badgers (16-4, 8-1 Big Ten) will enter the month of February with no worse than a share of first place in the Big Ten and ranked as the No.6 team in the country for the first time since December 2020. Whether they will stay there over the second half of the season will be determined by arguably their most challenging week of the conference schedule - heading to Lincoln Thursday to face Nebraska before hosting No.2 Purdue at the Kohl Center for a national television audience Sunday afternoon.

The Huskers (15-6, 5-5) have lost three of five and dropped an 88-72 decision to UW on January 6, but all those losses have come on the road. With a 13-1 record at home, Nebraska is averaging 80.7 points at Pinnacle Bank Arena and 70.3 on the road.

Three days after losing to UW, the Huskers shot 50.9 percent from the floor, averaging 1.29 points per possession, and beat the Boilermakers by 16.

Last season, Wisconsin twice built 17-point leads in the second half but was outscored by 27 points over the final 21 minutes in a 10-point overtime loss.

Purdue's loss in Lincoln left the preseason favorites to repeat in the Big Ten sitting with a below .500 conference record (2-3). In the five games since, the Boilermakers (19-2, 8-2) have looked like the juggernaut they were expected to be. Led by reigning national player of the year Zach Edey, Purdue has scored at least 84 points four times and held Rutgers to 20 first-half points in a 68-60 road victory Sunday. It was a significant hurdle to clear for Purdue, which had strangely lost three straight in Piscataway.

Edey had 17 points (7-for-9), 19 rebounds, three assists, no fouls called, and seven fouls drawn in a 63-61 victory in Madison last season, another frustrating defeat for the Badgers considering Purdue’s only offense was going 9-for-10 from the free throw line over its final nine possessions.

The losses at Nebraska and to Purdue were two of 10 defeats the Badgers suffered in games decided by five points or less in overtime. The Badgers have only been in two such games this season because their offense has risen to another level.

Their 81-66 victory over Michigan State at the Kohl Center was just as methodical as it was impressive. They were dominant offensively (50.9 percent, 1.35 points per possession), suffocating defensively (40.9 percent), and stingy with ball security (five turnovers).

Wisconsin ranks fourth nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency (121.8 points per 100 possessions), two spots behind the Boilermakers (124.9).

Wisconsin has started 8-1 or better in Big Ten play five times in the last 20 years. Three of those seasons have ended with 30 wins, a Big Ten championship, or both. UW knows It has a lot of work to do to make it four.

“They understand that you can’t let success change you in terms of how you approach every day and how you work,” Gard said. “It doesn’t take much to remind them about last year. Their goals are big, so our job is to keep challenging them and pointing out things that we have to get better at and hold them accountable to it and keep reminding them about, if you want to do what you said you want to do and what we’ve talked about, we’ve got to continue to get better.

“You can’t get complacent, and I think that’s the nice thing about having the depth that we have. Our practices, they get after it pretty good, to a degree where I kind of have to — not separate them — but tap the brakes a little bit. Which is good. I want them with an edge. I want them with a little chip on their shoulder.”

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_

*Like us on Facebook