The UW men’s basketball team (5-2) enters an eight-game stretch over winter break in which the Badgers will wrap up their non-conference schedule with games against UW-Milwaukee, UNC-Greensboro, Western Carolina and No. 15 Alabama before opening Big Ten play on the road with matchups against Purdue and Indiana. In the final game of the break, Bo Ryan’s squad will return to the Kohl Center for a pair of conference games against Ohio State and No. 18 Michigan State.
Wisconsin kicks off its winter-break action with the final in-state battle of the year, a showdown with UW-Milwaukee Wednesday at the Kohl Center. After falling to Marquette at the Bradley Center Saturday, Wisconsin has split its first two in-state showdowns this season after entering the 2004 campaign with wins in 18 of their last 19 games against opponents within the state of Wisconsin. The Badgers are 12-0 all-time against in-state opponents at the Kohl Center, but head coach Bo Ryan and the Badgers are not looking past the Panthers.
“People wouldn’t be talking about basketball in Wisconsin if all four programs hadn’t been getting something done here,” Ryan said. “And that’s the challenge.”
Wisconsin has lost just once against UW-Milwaukee in 21 meetings, with the Panthers’ only win coming in 1992. However, forward Zach Morley anticipates a difficult challenge when the Panthers invade the Kohl Center.
“I think it’s going to be a battle,” forward Zach Morley said. “Every possession is going to be a battle. We have to go from the get-go and we have to come out and prove to ourselves that we can come out and play the way we should play.”
Milwaukee (6-1) enters Wednesday’s game after its only loss of the season, a 72-71 defeat at the hands of Valparaiso. The game was decided from the charity stripe, as Valparaiso’s Jarryd Loyd sank the game-winning free throw with 1.8 seconds showing on the clock to end the Panthers’ six-game winning streak.
The 2004 Badgers hold a pair of historical ties to the Panthers, who Coach Ryan led for two seasons before signing on with Wisconsin. In addition to Ryan’s coaching ties, UW reserve guard Tanner Bronson played alongside Milwaukee forward Joah Tucker at Nicolet High School.
After the Milwaukee game, the Badgers will have a week off for exams before returning to the Kohl Center to take on UNC-Greensboro Dec. 23. For the remainder of winter break, the team will have the opportunity to focus solely on basketball without the distraction of classes and finals.
“It’s going to be real nice for those couple weeks that we have,” Morley said. “It’s really going to be a time for us to grow as a team and really work out some of the wrinkles.”
After closing out a four-game homestand with games against Western Carolina and a talented Alabama squad that features three players who average more than 15 points per game, Wisconsin will open the Big Ten schedule on the road against Purdue and Indiana.
While the Indiana road trip presents a daunting challenge to open Big Ten play, Morley and the Badgers have downplayed the difficulty of facing a pair of conference opponents away from the friendly confines of the Kohl Center.
“We just have to go in and take it as another game,” Morley said. “We have however many games to get better and get ourselves as prepared as possible for the Big Ten season.”
Though they will open the conference season in a hostile environment, the Badgers will not face a team with an intimidating record until the tail end of winter break play. Wisconsin’s Indiana road trip will pit the Badgers against a 2-5 Purdue squad and a 2-4 Indiana group who each rank among the three least productive offensive teams in the Big Ten this season, outscoring only Northwestern. Indiana and Purdue are the only teams in the conference to post a negative scoring margin on the year, as Indiana has been outscored by an average of 4.8 points per game this year and Purdue has averaged 7.9 points less than its opposition.
Though the Badgers will not face a dominant opponent on the road trip, Ryan’s squad recognizes that the first games of the conference schedule will provide a barometer for the team’s development.
“They’re really important,” Morley said. “It really gauges where you’re at, at the start of the Big Ten season. It shows you what you’ve improved since the beginning of the season and still what you need to improve by the end of the year.”
