The Big Ten has become a conference of parity with just one constant year in and year out: Winning on the road is extremely difficult. Whether it has to do with the rowdy hometown crowds or the friendly referees, teams just seem to play better on their home floor. The key then, to winning the conference has become to beat all the beatable teams on the road (i.e., Northwestern, Purdue and Penn State) and win all your home games. That formula has worked especially well for Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan. His teams have gone 34-1 at the Kohl Center in his five years as coach. During that span, the Badgers have been in the title hunt every year and have won the championship twice.
Wisconsin's home court advantage did little for them on Saturday. They shot 22 percent from the field en route to a 62-55 defeat at the hands of North Dakota State. Star players Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor combined to shoot an abysmal 8-42 from the field (19 percent). The Bison doubled Tucker and stifled Taylor. That strategy is not unusual, but usually some of the other players hit shots in order to spread out the opposing defenses. The other starters, Brian Butch, Ray Nixon and Jason Chappell combined to shoot 4-20 (25 percent) for the game.
\You lick your wounds the night of and the night after, and you just get back to work like we did [Monday],"" assistant coach Greg Moore said at practice. ""The biggest thing is not to dwell on it and not to lose your confidence.""
A stagnant offense seems to have become a trend for the Badgers. They rank ninth in the conference in field goal percentage at 44 percent and tenth in assists at 14.4 per game. The team needs to focus on cutting and ball movement to get people more open shots. Open shots for some of the supporting players can help free up space for Tucker and Taylor.
""I'm drawing three guys on me,"" Tucker said Monday. ""I can't force everything and think that I can win a game for us by myself.'
The two-game losing streak is of particular concern because it came right after the Badgers lost Marcus Landry for academic reasons, Greg Stiemsma for health reasons and DeAaron Williams because he is transferring. Wisconsin, which came into the season looking especially deep due to a solid freshman class, now looks rail thin. The ankle injury to Brian Butch further complicates the depth problems.
Despite the losses, the Badgers still sit atop the Big Ten standings. Due to the number of teams, the Badgers will not have to go play at Illinois and Indiana.
Penn State has traditionally been a doormat for the conference. The Nittany Lions have improved under their third-year coach, Ed DeChellis. After back-to-back seven-win seasons, State has already won ten games this year, including a 20-point win over Purdue. That was the Lions' first 20-point conference win since 2002.
Penn State is a young team and their top two players are underclassmen. Geary Claxton, who was named to the All-Big Ten freshman team last season, ranks 11th in the league in scoring at 15.0 points per game and ninth in rebounding at 6.9 boards per game. He is especially dangerous because he does all that rebounding damage from the small forward position. Jamelle Cornley is a 6'6'' freshman. He was ignored by some bigger schools because he is a little undersized to play power forward. However, Cornley has done a great job this year. He is second on the team in scoring (13.4 points) and rebounding (5.3 boards). He has a good shot to follow in Claxton's footsteps on the All-Big Ten freshman team.
The Lions have gotten great production out of their point guard position. Ben Luber is a pure point guard and he is leading the team in assists for the third straight season. Penn State is third in the Big Ten in assists (16.8) and assist to turnover ratio (1.2). A lot of that efficiency is due to Luber's backup, sophomore guard, Mike Walker. Walker leads the Big Ten in assist to turnover ratio at 3.85. Coach DeChellis has been going to Walker a lot in the past few games due to his solid play.
The North Dakota State game is definitely a cause for concern and resulted in a slip in the rankings, but the real goal for Wisconsin is to win the Big Ten title. The best way to do that is to protect your home court. The defeat can serve as motivation for the team to rally the troops and get back on track after losing some of its key players.
'I was missing easy lay-ups and five foot bunnies right in front of the rim [Saturday],"" junior guard Kam Taylor said. We know things are not going to happen like that every game.'
