As the Big Ten season closes, so do the college basketball careers for three Badgers.
Seniors Zach Bohannon, Ben Brust and redshirt junior Evan Anderson will play at the Kohl Center one last time at Senior Night Wednesday against Purdue.
Wisconsin (11-5 Big Ten, 24-5 overall) will try to close its final home game of the season by adding another win to its current seven-game win streak.
The last time UW clashed with the Boilermakers was back in January, when the Badgers won easily, 72-58. That win marked the only victory for Wisconsin amid a midseason five-loss rough patch.
“I thought we stuck to our defensive principles,” said freshman forward Nigel Hayes. “When we had that little losing stretch that we were on, we got away from those and I would say Purdue was one of those games when we were trying to get back on the winning streak that we are on now.”
Despite the convincing victory in the box score, the game should have been closer if not for early foul trouble by Purdue’s go-to sophomore forward A.J. Hammons. The likely NBA draft pick averages 10.6 points per game and is third in the conference in rebounding with 7.4 per game.
Purdue is coming off two recent losses this time around, but are perhaps showing signs of improvement as it played first-place Michigan to overtime and played Iowa down to the wire.
“They’ve got a lot of young guys playing, that the more experience they get, you’re going to expect them to grow and mature from it,” said UW assistant coach Greg Gard.
The Boilermakers are indeed a young team, but it was their freshman guard Bryson Scott who put up a team-high 10 points in their last contest.
Purdue’s leading scorer this season is senior guard Terone Johnson, who is averaging 12.1 points per game.
“We know how they play, and what they’re about, how they’re going to be, and they’ll come in here very tough-minded and get after you,” Gard said.
Wisconsin has been able to overcome slow starts in its past two games against Indiana and Penn State, and if a slow start becomes a reality on Wednesday, they will look to overcome that once again.
“It’s a game of runs and a lot of times in the first half, you know, there’s no real tempo sustained, so it’s gonna be back and forth. It’s just gonna be a battle,” said sophomore forward Sam Dekker. “The team that can withstand those battles usually comes out on top.”
Purdue is currently tied for last place in the conference with Penn State and Northwestern, but is the only one of those teams with a winning overall record (15-14).
“It just comes down to us worrying about ourselves and playing our game, and making it tough for them offensively and defensively,” Dekker said. “If we do that and play our style of basketball, we should be alright.”
Last season, the then-No. 17 Badgers were upset at home by the Boilermakers, which also happened to be Senior Night at the Kohl Center. That marked the first time in head coach Bo Ryan’s history as UW’s coach that the team lost on Senior Night.
Wisconsin looks forward to avenge last season’s loss Wednesday at 8 p.m.
