Don’t let No. 15 Wisconsin’s (5-1 Big Ten, 16-3 overall) record fool you; the Badgers have yet to play a complete 40-minute game this season. Time and again Wisconsin has found a way to win conference games, pulling out close victories against Minnesota, Michigan and Indiana. But in those three wins, and most of their quality wins throughout both conference and non-conference play, the Badgers have gone through extended stretches where they struggle.
Penn State (3-4, 11-9) visits Madison Tuesday evening, and while the Nittany Lions’ record shows a team stuck in mediocrity, their play tells a different story. They are much improved this season, making Tuesday night a perfect opportunity for the Badgers to finally play a complete game, avoiding the pesky lapses which have posed problems in the past.
Against Michigan last Tuesday, the Badgers went through a more than five-minute stretch in the second half in which they scored just a single point.
At Minnesota over the weekend, Wisconsin went through a similar four-plus minute stretch in the first half in which it failed to score.
Having problematic stretches during games are common, but they happen repeatedly for UW, allowing opponents to claw back into games.
“I think there’s times where we have lapses,” senior forward Vitto Brown said. “Even if we’re playing good defense, if we’re not scoring on the other end, it’s a zero-sum game.”
Brown adds that UW’s offensive struggles are mostly a result of poor ball movement and too much one-on-one play. The Badgers got in the habit of ball-watching against the Wolverines, and Brown notes they struggled at points moving the ball against Minnesota as well.
Much of UW’s struggles on offense come when sophomore forward Ethan Happ is off the floor. Happ has emerged as not only one of UW’s best post players this season, but also one of the best post players in the entire country.
When he exits the floor, often times, UW’s offense leaves with him.
“When he goes off the court, when me and [Charles Thomas] are out there, I think we have to do a lot better job of doing what he does, finishing down low,” sophomore forward Alex Illikainen said.
Happ scored a career-high 28 points against the Golden Gophers Saturday on 11-of-19 shooting. From the 17:59 mark of the second half to the 7:54 mark, Happ scored all but three of UW’s 21 points. Possession after possession, Badger guards would dump it down to Happ in the post, and each time he would finish around the rim.
Penn State, however, has multiple big men that could potentially cause problems for Happ and his teammates.
Freshman forward Mike Watkins averages 9.8 points and 7.9 rebounds off the bench for the Nittany Lions. Fellow freshman forward Lamar Stevens adds almost 12 points and six rebounds as well. Both have long arms and are active on the defensive end of the floor.
“I think this is probably the biggest that they’ve been in recent memory, at least since we’ve been here,” Brown said. “But Ethan is used to playing against taller guys now, so he’s the one primarily down there and I think we’ve gotten better finishing primarily against height like that.”
Illikainen added that the Nittany Lions’ big men are “super high energy” and that Watkins and Stevens are “super long and pretty crafty, just like Ethan.”
The Badgers, though, are confident in their defensive abilities. They worry more about putting together a complete 40-minute offensive performance.
“I think we’ve been more consistent defensively,” Brown said. “So if we can be more consistent on the offensive end we’ll be good.”
Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.
The Daily Cardinal Calculator gives the Badgers a 91.2 percent chance of winning.
