Coming off a defeat at the hands of Purdue Wednesday night, Wisconsin will look to get back on track as Penn State visits the Kohl Center Sunday afternoon.
Though the Nittany Lions were able to knock off UW in State College, Pa., three weeks ago, the Badgers are 14-2 against Penn State at home, winning all ten meetings since the Kohl Center opened in 1998.
When these two teams faced off Jan. 29, Penn State was in the midst of a run that saw them take down Michigan State, Illinois and UW at home while nearly knocking off both Ohio State and Purdue away from the Bryce Jordan center.
However PSU comes into Madison having lost four of their last five games since that home upset against the Badgers, struggling in loses to Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Michigan State. Having put themselves back on the bubble in January, the Nittany Lions now seem out of the running and at this point can only hope for a backdoor NIT bid.
In Sunday's contest, the key match-up will undoubtedly be between UW junior guard Jordan Taylor and Penn State senior guard Taylor Battle, who recently became the first Big Ten player since Alando Tucker to pass the 2,000 point threshold.
Taylor, on the other hand, has been the centerpiece of the Wisconsin offense. In last weekend's upset of No. 1 Ohio State, Taylor led the way with 27 points and 7 assists, dominating the Buckeyes' Aaron Craft during a 30-8 stretch that turned a 15-point Ohio State lead into a 7-point deficit.
In the road loss against the Boilermakers Wednesday, however, Taylor never got things going, struggling throughout despite posting 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
As Taylor goes, so go the Badgers.
But during the recent stretch that has seen UW win 7-of-9, it has been the supporting cast that has proven crucial down the stretch.
Double-digit performances by sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz and freshman guard Josh Gasser were arguably as vital to the Wisconsin comeback against Ohio State as the 21 points Taylor had in the second half.
That duo shot a combined 2-of-12 from the field against Purdue and seemed unable to get a big shot to fall.
Despite the loss, there were positive developments the Badgers can look to build upon as they head back home.
Redshirt sophomore Ryan Evans notched 11 points and five rebounds while showing an added level of aggressive play on the offensive end that Wisconsin would undoubtedly like to see carried over into the final run of conference play.
Sunday begins a stretch of games in which the Badgers should be favored in four straight contests, games that are arguably the most important of the season for a Wisconsin team looking to get itself a high seed in the NCAA tournament and perhaps even get themselves back into the conference title race.
