SPORTS
No. 20 Wisconsin preps for battle with top-ranked Illinois
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by Dave McGrath
Friday, February 11, 2005
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will once again be at the center of attention noon Saturday, when Wisconsin gets its second chance to blemish the University of Illinois’ perfect 24-0 record. With the memory of the first loss at the Kohl Center in more than three years still fresh in their mouths, Wisconsin (16-5, 7-3 Big Ten) will try and give Illinois a taste of its own medicine when the Badgers head to Assembly Hall in Champaign, Ill. for a nationally televised rematch.
Just over two weeks ago, Illinois ended Wisconsin’s 38-game home winning streak with a hard-fought 75-65 victory. Since then, Illinois has continued its quest towards the first perfect regular season in decades. Bobby Knight’s NCAA champion Indiana Hoosiers last accomplished the feat in 1976. The Badgers represent maybe the most difficult barrier to imitating the ‘76 Hoosiers feat, as they are the only team currently ranked remaining on the Illini schedule.
Making things even more difficult for Wisconsin is the Illini’s recent success at Assembly Hall, winning 63 of the past 65 games on their home court over the past four seasons, the best winning percentage of any team in the country (.969) over that span of time.
“They’re at home and everything is on their side,” sophomore forward Alando Tucker said. “They are going to feel like ‘we can come and take this from Wisconsin, because they are going to be soft with the ball’ and all that. We have to be strong, we have to look to attack and we have to play our game.”
Badger head coach Bo Ryan chooses not to dwell on where the game is being played, believing that the players have to execute regardless.
“They’re still undefeated, that’s all we know,” Ryan said. “They are a very good team and this is the second time we get the chance to play them and we have to do better. Their three perimeter guys are pretty good, the inside guys are playing pretty well, so their tendencies are they move the ball and you have to stop their movement and keep them from getting good shots.”
In the two teams’ first matchup this year, Illinois scored 14 of the final 15 points of the game to erase a second-half deficit and propel them to victory. Guard Luther Head had 18 points to lead the Illini, but it was the Illinois frontcourt that had the biggest impact on the game.
Forwards James Augustine, Roger Powell Jr. and Jack Ingram combined for 33 points on 12-17 shooting. When you throw into the mix last year’s preseason player of the year, Dee Brown, the Illini represent the most explosive team in the Big Ten, averaging just over 75 points a contest.
“We are going to have to play really good defense, real good defense,” senior guard Sharif Chambliss said. “They have a great three guards and their big men are all playing real well. I think defense is going to be the key to everything down there.”
For all their scoring punch however, the size and speed of Illinois might be most felt on the defensive end, as the Illini rank near the top in the conference in creating turnovers, including second in the league in steals, averaging 8.5 per game.
“I think their defense is what really stood out to me,” sophomore guard Kammron Taylor said. “For the most part I think we did a pretty good job keeping them from scoring, but their defense is what really makes them good.”
Almost all the Wisconsin players are of the sentiment that they let the first game against the Illini slip away and are looking to avoid a repeat of their performance down the stretch.
“We had them on the ropes and we let them go on a run and I think we got rattled,” Taylor said. “You can’t get rattled against the No. 1 team in the country.”
“I think one thing we did is we stopped playing Wisconsin basketball,” Tucker said. “We were being tentative when we got up, you want to keep attacking.”
Despite all the intangibles being in Illinois’ favor, and Wisconsin being a big underdog, the Badgers have plenty of confidence that they will be able to be the first team to walk away from Illinois victorious.
“We know they can be beat, we gotta go down there and just play our game,” Chambliss said. “Everybody has to be clicking on all cylinders and running smoothly. We are just going to go down there and have fun.”
Anonymous (February 11, 2005 @ 3:05pm):
Fuck 'em Bucky
Anonymous (February 12, 2005 @ 5:29pm):
You can do it!
You can do it all night long!
Anonymous (February 13, 2005 @ 8:20pm):
Who let the Rob Schneider wannabe in here?
