BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Coming off by far its best performance of the season Saturday against Illinois, Wisconsin faces No. 2 Indiana at perhaps the best time possible. Although the Hoosiers (3-0 Big Ten, 15-1 Overall) have not beaten UW since the Kelvin Sampson era, the Badgers (3-0, 12-4) will need to have a near-perfect effort just to compete against an IU team that can make a good case as the best in the nation.
First and foremost, Wisconsin will have to get Indiana to play at a slower pace. The Hoosiers enter Tuesday night leading the nation scoring 87.9 points per game, a total at which UW simply cannot compete. But if there is a team out there destined to be the kryptonite for IU, it is the Badgers. In addition to winning 10 straight in the series, Wisconsin enters the game giving up just 50.2 points per game during its six-game winning streak and ranks No. 6 in the country in points allowed at just 54.7 per game.
One of the hallmarks of Wisconsin basketball is ball security, and that will have to be on display in Bloomington for the Badgers to be competitive. Wisconsin leads the nation in turnovers at just 8.9 times per game, while Indiana forces a Big Ten-best 16.4 turnovers per contest. The Hoosiers play at times with their defense being their best offense, something that Wisconsin’s guards will have to neutralize in order to slow the pace of the game down to a level at which UW can be in a position to pull off the upset.
Though the 3-0 start for Indiana is perhaps unsurprising, many wrote off this UW team after a very unremarkable non-conference season that included four losses and just two wins against postseason-worthy competition. While wins over Nebraska and Penn State were anything but noteworthy, Saturday’s 23-point win over then-No. 12 Illinois got many a head turned back in the Badgers’ direction.
With first place in the loaded Big Ten conference on the line in this battle between the conference’s last two unbeaten teams, the stage is certainly set for UW to send shockwaves through the college basketball world with a victory at Assembly Hall.
