With the regular season coming to a close, the possible season outcomes for Wisconsin (10-5 Big Ten, 23-5 overall) have begun to tighten up. The No. 3 Badgers lie two games back from conference leader Michigan, with Michigan State in between, and hold a 1.5-game lead over No. 4 Ohio State.
Barring a miracle or a collapse, the Badgers will hold the second or third seed in the Big Ten tournament. Last Wednesday, that miracle almost came when Purdue was excruciatingly close to the upset after losing to Michigan in overtime. Among the viewers of that game: the Badgers.
“We were watching that game pretty closely because it would have put us one game back, but we just got to take it one game at a time,” sophomore forward Sam Dekker said. “Right now, we’re pretty happy with what we’ve done to this point of the season besides that little slump that we had, but it is what it is.”
The next challenge for the Badgers to stay alive in the Big Ten title race will be a visit to Happy Valley to take on a stronger-than-usual Penn State team (5-10, 14-14).
Usually a conference joke, the Nittany Lions have registered fairly impressive wins over St. Johns, Nebraska and Ohio State, whom they beat twice for a season sweep.
The Nittany Lions are led by a pair of great guards in senior Tim Frazier and junior D.J. Newbill, both of whom should see some time being defended by redshirt junior guard Josh Gasser.
“[They’re quick] and they’re always in attack mode. They take a lot of shots for their team, they score in a variety of ways, and every bucket they get they’re either scoring on or assisting on,” Gasser said. “They’re going to get theirs, but we have just got to stay on them and stay confident the entire game.”
Both players rank in the top 10 of the Big Ten in scoring. Newbill is averaging 17.9 points per game and Frazier with 16. Frazier also leads the Big Ten in assists per game with 5.7.
It will be interesting to watch how the Badgers guard the duo. Gasser’s defense, with his most recent dominance of Michigan State’s Gary Harris and Michigan’s Nik Stauskas, has drawn deserved praise, but he’s just one player.
Both Frazier and Newbill play around 35 minutes per game, which means they will both be on the floor for the majority of the game. That means another Badger guard will be forced to cover a Big Ten elite scorer, which is a matchup that isn’t seen frequently.
This Penn State team will be the third-to-last regular season opponent for Wisconsin.
The Badgers will next host Purdue for Senior Day and travel to play Nebraska, who is looking like a possible NCAA tournament bubble team.
Meanwhile, Michigan will host Minnesota, play at Illinois, and host Indiana. In that fairly weak slate of games, the Wolverines will have to lose at least two games for the Badgers to have a shot.
“It’s hard not to [watch the scoreboard], but you can really only control what you can control. We’re just trying to focus on our games that we have. It would be nice if some teams helped us out a little bit, but unfortunately, we can’t control that,” Gasser said. “As long as we keep playing hard and focusing on ourselves, we’ll be alright.”
