After an explosive offensive performance from junior guard Devin Harris in Wednesday's victory over Minnesota, the UW men's basketball team (6-1 Big Ten, 15-3 overall) will take their momentum to the road for their match-up against Northwestern (3-5, 8-11) on Saturday.
Harris has been in the zone for the past three games with 30 points against Illinois, 29 against Ohio State and a career-high 38 versus the Golden Gophers.
Though Harris is paving the way for the Badgers, Northwestern is not to be taken lightly. Despite being one of the bottom teams in the Big Ten, the Wildcats claim the rights to a few key players. Senior guard Jitim Young leads the team offensively averaging 18.2 points per contest this season.
Northwestern also gets a positive contribution from sophomore Vedran Vukusic. The 6'8' forward is not only a threat on the inside, but also from beyond the arc. In the Wildcats' 72-64 loss to Ohio State Wednesday, Vukusic ended the night with 24 points which included a career-high six three-pointers. His 44.7 percent from the three-point line puts him among the top 10 in the Big Ten.
Even if Northwestern has all the tools necessary to come out with a win, the Badgers know what they need to do in order to avoid an upset.
\What they do is sag real low and jam it in the middle, real tight, so almost it looks like a zone,"" UW junior guard Clayton Hanson said. ""So we'll have to keep the cuts going and keep moving the ball and hopefully knock some shots down. Looking at the film from Minnesota, they got a couple back doors on us, and that's something Northwestern predicates their offense on. So just keeping your man in front, we've definitely got to work on that.""
Another thing Wisconsin needs to work on is protecting the ball against a quick Northwestern team. The Badgers will not be able to commit 12 turnovers like they did against Minnesota as sophomore guard Mohamed Hachad, Young and Vukusic will steal anything in sight. All are among the top ten in the conference in steals and aid Northwestern in leading the Big Ten in steals with 7.75 a game.
The Badgers will again be without a member of the starting lineup. Due to an arrest on Tuesday night, sophomore guard Boo Wade did not appear in the game against Minnesota and will not make the trip to Northwestern.
Despite the loss of Wade and Northwestern's unfavorable record, the Badgers know they still need to be at the top of their game.
""We know how tough of a team these guys are, any team for that matter in the Big Ten,"" Badger senior guard Freddie Owens said. ""You've got everybody beating everybody in this conference, and so we know what we are up against. We don't take anybody for granted or anyone lightly. We know the type of offense they run, the kind of coach that they have and the players they have that they are a pretty effective team whether their record shows it or not. We are just preparing like they are the head of the conference, like anyone else.\
