Wisconsin welcomes more Floridians to the Kohl Center Saturday afternoon as the Badgers host Florida International at 1 p.m.
Florida State from the Atlantic Coast Conference came into the Kohl Center Tuesday and was handled easily by Wisconsin. So far the Badgers have rebounded well from their unexpected loss to Missouri State by running off a couple wins, and their next opponent shouldn't pose much of a problem.
For Florida International, this will be their fourth straight road game, and if their last couple games are any indication, the Golden Panthers won't be up to the challenge. Coming into the Kohl Center rarely bodes well for the visiting team, and averaging 41.2 percent from the field and scoring only 59 points per game most likely won't cut it in the Kohl Center.
Although this shouldn't be the closest game in score, it is still an important game for the Badgers. The next couple games need to be taken seriously as the team gears up for Marquette and Pittsburgh. The Badgers' rotation still hasn't quite been worked out, and head coach Bo Ryan needs to start figuring out which players to play when in order to get the most efficiency. Look for a lot of rotation and substitutions in the game Saturday as Wisconsin looks to work out the kinks in their lineup and their game before taking on some of the elite teams in the country.
Florida International is an interesting team because of the 12 players on the team, seven are foreign. The players hail from countries including Cameroon, the Dominican Republic and Argentina, and their leading scorer, senior Johwen Villegas, is from Puerto Rico.
The Golden Panthers may have diversity, but they don't have height. They have no one above 6'9', and their tallest players don't even see much playing time. Their three best players are all 6'4' and under, and their point guards are shorter than 6'. This means Wisconsin's big men like junior Brian Butch, junior Jason Chappell and sophomore Greg Stiemsma should have a field day down low. We should see plenty of blocks, lots of solid rebounding, and lots of scoring in the paint.
The Golden Panthers are coming off a 26-point loss to last year's Final Four feel-good story, George Mason. They are just undermatched against a team like Wisconsin, and they have to deal with the noise and environment of Big Ten basketball at the Kohl Center.
FIU has had two home games thus far, and has averaged a home attendance of 587 people. That's five rows in the Kohl Center. A crowd of boistrous Badger fans will probably not help the Golden Panthers free throw shooting woes. They are shooting just 63 percent from the free-throw line, and averaging 16 turnovers per game.
The Badgers seem to be improving as a team and individually from game to game. Senior forward Alando Tucker has really started to come into his own, and is the leading scorer in the Big Ten. Hopefully he will continue to build on the fire he seemed to have after getting hit in the eye against Florida State, when he lit up Sportscenter with his high flying ability that has not been seen much in years past.
One thing the Badgers need to focus on against FIU is 3-point shooting, as they are only shooting 35.1 percent on the year, good for sixth in the Big Ten. Though the Badgers did a decent job at the line against Florida State, free-throw shooting also continues to be a problem, as the Badgers are shooting a miserable 64 percent, which ranks tenth in the Big Ten.
Look for Kammron Taylor to keep shooting, as he broke out last game for three 3-pointers, shooting with no hesitation. For the Badgers to get over the hump before Marquette, they are going to need to find that confidence and determine who can hit the shots, who can play defense and who can play well together.
