[media-credit name=’CHARLIE NEIBERGALL/Associated Press’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]After a dismal performance in Minnesota Saturday, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (15-5, 6-3) will look to rebound against the visiting Iowa Hawkeyes (15-6, 3-5) Wednesday at the Kohl Center.

The Hawkeyes will be looking to avenge a 54-52 defeat at the hands of the Badgers last year in Iowa City. Steve Alford’s Hawkeye squad enters this season’s contest after a hard-fought loss to the Michigan State Spartans last weekend. The Hawkeyes dug themselves a 22-point hole with fewer than 16 minutes to play before mounting a ferocious comeback. The lead was cut to three with a minute to play, but the Big Ten’s best free-throw-shooting team put the game away with eight straight from the charity stripe.

Tonight will mark the second game in a row in which Iowa will be without leading scorer and defensive specialist Pierre Pierce. Pierce was permanently released from the team Feb. 2 following investigation by police for a reported altercation with his girlfriend.

The junior guard previously sat out the 2002-03 season after being charged with sexual assault, but was allowed to return to the team. Coach Alford called Pierce’s recent actions a “betrayal of trust that was set up for him” following Pierce’s previous arrest.

Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said Pierce’s absence will not change the way his team will prepare for the game.

“In athletics, you see us not lament and not go crazy when we lose one of our own, or if another team loses a player,” Ryan said. “There are competitors out there. They compete, they play and you just keep going.”

The majority of the Iowa scoring load now falls on 6-foot-3 junior guard Jeff Horner and 6-foot-7 junior forward Greg Brunner.

Iowa’s starting point guard, Horner has shown an ability to score and create for his teammates. He is deadly from downtown, leading the Big Ten in 3-point shooting percentage (46 percent). The Iowa point man also ranks second in the conference in assists, with an average of almost six per contest.

Averaging 13 points and eight rebounds per game so far this year, Brunner is one of the Big Ten’s premier big men. Wisconsin’s post defenders will have their hands full trying to contain Brunner, who has scored in double figures in every Big Ten game this season. In addition to his strong post play, Brunner has displayed the ability to knock down the open 3.

Iowa’s only other significant scoring threat comes from Iowa State transfer Adam Haluska. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard averages 12 points per game and is coming off a career performance against Michigan State. Haluska scored 24 points on 7-16 shooting and added six rebounds against the Spartans.

Ryan will likely employ the three-guard lineup again tonight against Iowa’s backcourt of Horner, Haluska and 6-foot-2 guard Mike Henderson. However, the UW helmsman worries little about players’ positions, and instead maintains that he looks only at talent. “I’ve always gone with players,” Ryan said. “Whether they’re called guards, forwards, centers or whatever; I’ve never worried about it. The guys that are playing are the guys that matter, and what their title is … doesn’t matter to me.”

Iowa, a team who reached as high as No. 14 in the national rankings earlier this year, matches up well with the Badgers. Tonight’s contest presents three key matchups.

The first comes at the point guard spot, where Horner and Wisconsin’s Sharif Chambliss are both shooters with solid range who can also handle the ball.

Second, Haluska and the Badgers’ Clayton Hanson, a pair of streaky shooters capable of heating up at any moment, will go head to head at the off-guard spot.

The third key matchup comes down low, where Brunner and UW’s Mike Wilkinson will tangle in the post. These two hardworking big men both love to work the low block and are more than capable of hitting the 3.

The Badgers’ main advantage may be forward Alando Tucker, who returned to action Saturday against Minnesota after a two-game absence with a bruised toe on his right foot.

“He was a little tentative, but he did some good things, too,” Ryan said of Tucker’s performance Saturday. “We just want him to play hard on every possession.”

If healthy, Tucker will present matchup problems for the Hawkeyes with his unique blend of size and athleticism.

Against the top pressure defense in the Big Ten, the Badgers turned the ball over 17 times Saturday, as the Gophers, who average 9.86 steals per game, picked up nine steals on the day. Iowa, the second-ranked team in the Big Ten in steals, behind only Minnesota, will also look to turn up the pressure on the perimeter. If Bo Ryan’s squad is to rebound after their loss in Minneapolis, they will have to return to the brand of basketball that has given them a 1.10 team assist/turnover ratio this season.