The Badgers play maybe the best defense in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions undeniably play the worst.
You'd sooner see UW center Brian Butch run the point than UW waver from its man-to-man defense to play a zone, a technique Penn State utilizes regularly.
Wisconsin, at 22-2 (8-1 Big Ten), is ranked No. 4 in the country and is living up to expectations to compete for a Big Ten title and beyond this season. Meanwhile, Penn State's season has already gone belly up (10-10, 1-7 Big Ten), as the team that was expected by many to finally take the next step and level up with the conference heavyweights has been bitterly disappointing.
"That was one of the teams that I thought would surprise me and be a surprise team in the Big Ten," Alando Tucker said. "They've had a tough time."
But for all the differences in style and performance there is one strong common bond between the Nittany Lions and the Badgers: their respective top player.
The Badgers' star forward Tucker and the leader of the Nittany Lions' pride, Geary Claxton, can at times look like mirror images of each other on the court.
"I see a lot of similarities — I always have since he came into the Big Ten," Tucker said. "He has a lot of desire, same as I do."
Both Tucker and Claxton are about 6-foot-5, 210 pounds yet do much of their damage inside the paint despite often being undersized.
Badger fans have watched Tucker build his Wooden Award résumé from the inside out, averaging 19.7 points and 5.0 rebounds a contest, with most of his damage being done in the paint.
Claxton had done much the same, becoming the Big Ten's leading rebounder this season with averaging 8.1 boards to go with 16.8 points — the league's fifth-best scoring average.
And like Tucker, Claxton is showing off a developing perimeter game this season shooting 32 percent on his three-pointers (10-for-31).
"He's going to attack every possession," Tucker said. "He goes to the boards hard. He comes off screens hard, and he plays bigger than he is."
While they physically and statistically are very similar, the one thing that sets Claxton apart is his length.
"He's only like 6'5", but his wingspan is like 6'11", 7-feet," a wide-eyed Kammron Taylor said.
"That's what everybody talks about with Geary Claxon — how long he is," Tucker agreed.
Coaches, players and experts around the league marvel at Tucker's tenacity and relentlessness on the court, a trait Wisconsin players were quick to point out is a fundamental component in the makeup of Claxton.
"He's got the heart of a lion," Flowers said.
Despite all of Claxton's efforts, however, which could garner him all-conference accolades, Penn State still has struggled mightily this season, particularly at the defensive end.
The Nittany Lions are allowing an average of 73.9 points since the Big Ten season began, far and away the worst in the league. Wisconsin, by contrast, sports the conference's second most stingy defense, only giving up 58.4 points a game.
Making matters worse for Penn State is that the flimsy Nittany Lion zone might look like an open floor during a weave drill for Wisconsin after going against Northwestern's airtight zone on Saturday.
"Northwestern has the best zone in the conference," Taylor said. "We know we can play well against the zone. Heading into Penn State we know if we execute and don't stay too impatient, we can handle it."
While you can't spell "Nittany" without NIT, the Lions haven't even been able to make the consolation tournament with regularity in recent history, as last year's appearance was their first postseason action of any kind since 2001. Penn State will have to scramble just to reach a tournament as the NIT stipulates teams must have at least a .500 record to be eligible for selection.
The Badgers are prepared to have to handle a Nittany Lion squad that might play with its back to the wall as the team senses time is running out.
"This could be the game that turns around their season," Taylor said. "We can't get caught off guard."
