Thanks to its recent four-game winning streak, Wisconsin enters February playing for something more than just pride.
Now owning wins against Michigan State and Indiana and a conference record that’s above 0.500, the Badgers (5-4 Big Ten, 13-9 overall) suddenly find themselves back in the mix for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Just this week, ESPN’s resident bracketologist, Joe Lunardi, has Wisconsin in his “Next Four Out,” while Shelby Mast of USA Today has UW among his “First Four Out.” Of course, there’s over a month left in the regular season and a lot can change between now and Selection Sunday, but the very thought of the Badgers being in the NCAA Tournament discussion would’ve seemed almost impossible even three weeks ago.
Wisconsin still has four road games left on its schedule against teams currently ranked in the top 25 (Maryland, Michigan State, Iowa and Purdue), and a win or two against those teams would be huge résumé boosters.
But before the Badgers can worry about that tough slate of contests down the home stretch of their schedule, they still have to take care of business in a pair of must-win home games, which starts against Ohio State (6-4, 14-9) Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Kohl Center.
Though it may be tempting for players to peer ahead on the schedule at these marquee games, freshman guard Khalil Iverson, as one might expect, stressed the importance of taking it one game at a time and not looking too far ahead.
“We just play each game one at a time and not look down the schedule or anything like that,” Iverson said. “Just focus on who we play next and after that game’s over, then we move on.”
And when it comes to renewed NCAA Tournament buzz, he takes a similar approach.
“Just the same thing. You can’t get caught up on what everyone around are talking about, stuff like that,” Iverson said. “Just focus on your game on that day, who you play and things like that.”
Iverson and his teammates will be looking to push their winning streak to five Thursday night against a young Ohio State squad that has had its shares of ups and downs this season as well.
The Buckeyes started off the season 2-4, which included ugly losses to Texas-Arlington and Louisiana Tech. They followed that by going 9-1 in their next 10 games, including an upset win over Kentucky, and have lost four of seven coming into their matchup with Wisconsin.
Ohio State does boast a respectable 6-4 conference record, but the Buckeyes have yet to beat a ranked opponent and were tagged with a 35-point loss to Maryland and a 25-point loss to Indiana, both coming down the road.
The Buckeyes have been a strong defensive unit this year, ranking 17th in the country in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency ratings, but their offense, which ranks 173rd in Pomeroy’s adjusted offensive efficiency ratings, has been inconsistent and prone to prolonged scoring droughts.
For its defense to continue to have success, it will need to find a way to slow down redshirt freshman forward Ethan Happ, who has emerged as one of the conference’s best freshmen.
Though early foul trouble held Happ to just six points in 22 minutes of playing time in Wisconsin’s win over Illinois, he’s still averaging 16.3 points and 53.8 percent shooting during UW’s current winning streak. He’s earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors three weeks in a row, becoming a more dominant post presence that is finishing shots and showing off more polished footwork than what fans saw from him earlier in the season.
His continued progression will be key for the Badgers as they make their push for a ticket to March Madness, a quest made all the more intriguing given the team’s current coaching situation.
Just this week, UW athletic director Barry Alvarez stated that he’s been “very much impressed” with the job interim head coach Greg Gard has done thus far. What exactly Gard needs to do to land the permanent gig is up for speculation, but earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament after the tumultuous start to the season would likely make it tough for Alvarez to look elsewhere for a new head coach.
But despite the uncertainty of his future with the program, Gard says he’s had no trouble staying in the moment thus far.
“That's how I would operate no matter what, whether I have a three-month contract or a 10-year contract,” Gard said during his weekly press conference. “During the season as a coach you bunker down and you focus on the next day.”
The Badgers have made significant strides, both individually and as a team, since Gard took over for Bo Ryan in December, and they’ll need to continue to do so as they make a late-season push for a spot in the Big Dance.
“[The players] are starting to, as we as a staff pick out things that we feel are their strengths and implement those in practice and trying to accentuate those, they're starting to correlate that between practice and game and how to execute and when to execute and developing confidence,” Gard said. “I think that's the biggest thing. This group has really grown, as I've talked about, with the culture and the closeness of the group, the cohesiveness, this group has come together tighter off the floor as well.”
