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UW heads for 1st league test
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Also by Mike Ackerstein:
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- Badgers host to Hoosiers, Boilermakers at Field House (October 15, 2004)
- Something's got to give against Boilermakers (February 3, 2006)
- Badgers head off to Indiana (April 21, 2006)
by Mike Ackerstein
Friday, January 25, 2008
After playing its first six conference games against the bottom five teams in the Big Ten standings, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will finally face one of the league’s better squads Saturday when it travels to West Lafayette to play Purdue.
The No. 11 Badgers (16-2, 6-0) currently sit tied atop the conference while the Boilermakers (14-5, 6-1) find themselves alone in third place.
“They’ve been playing very well. They could easily be undefeated in the league,” Badger coach Bo Ryan said of the upcoming opponent. “They were picked as one of those teams that could compete at the upper echelon and they certainly have done that.”
Purdue’s only Big Ten loss this season was a 78-75 decision on the road at No. 10 Michigan State in a game where the Boilermakers were missing second-leading scorer Ryan Hummell.
“Purdue’s a talented team,” junior Greg Stiemsma said. “They’ve been doing some things really well, and we just have to go in there and take care of what we do.”
Wins at Purdue’s Mackey Arena have been hard to come by for Wisconsin — the team has only earned two victories there since 1972 — and the stadium is one of the Big Ten’s toughest to play in.
“It is loud because of the acoustics, and the noise hovers over the team,” Ryan said. “They get into it; their fans enjoy the game.”
The last time Wisconsin beat Purdue on the road came in 2005, and senior Brian Butch is the only current Badger to have played in a win at Mackey Arena.
“It’s a tough place to play, it’s really loud, fans get into it,” Butch said. “You just have to find ways to get it done somehow.”
A home crowd may help Purdue this season, but the Boilermakers should also cause problems for the Badgers with a talented albeit youthful roster.
Purdue is led in scoring by sophomore guard Keaton Grant with 11.6 points per game, but freshmen Robbie Hummel and E’Twaun Moore are both solid scorers and threaten to have big games.
Similar to Wisconsin, none of Purdue’s players are stars, but the roster is deep and there are several that can cause trouble for opponents on any given night.
“They play great defense, they’re a physical team, they’re going to offer a lot of challenges for us,” Butch said. “We’ve got to make sure that we stay sound on the defensive end, and we need to make sure we rebound a little better than last game too.”
Against Michigan, rebounding was one of the areas that Wisconsin really struggled in. UW gave up 20 offensive rebounds, 14 second-chance points and allowed the Wolverines to grab 12 more total rebounds than they did.
“It was made pretty clear today during film that if we want to be successful we can’t play that way,” Butch said.
Ryan also pointed out the Badgers’ rebounding problems against the Wolverines and cited the team’s 60 percent shooting effort in the second half of that game as the reason the team was able to survive with a win.
“It’s an area where we didn’t do a very good job,” Ryan said.
In addition to rebounding, Wisconsin should also see a difference in playing time distribution as well.
Though the team had used an eight-man rotation for most of the season, only six have seen significant playing time as of late with Jon Leuer and Steimsma sitting more than they had earlier in the year. Ryan, however, has not put the two on the bench for good.
“I’m just looking for guys that go on the floor and make things happen,” Ryan said.
After sitting out the game against Northwestern, Steimsma — a starter in the team’s first seven games — checked in midway through the second half against Michigan and provided a spark off the bench, notching two points, two rebounds and two blocks.
“You’ve just got to take advantage of your opportunities,” Stiemsma said of his performance.
While Leuer didn’t provide the same production in his ten minutes against Michigan, it should be noted that the freshman scored 25 points in his first Big Ten road game (also against Michigan) and was one of the team’s only bright spots in the loss to Duke earlier in the year, the team’s only road defeat of the season.
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