Men’s basketball: Badgers seek out key road victory in Iowa

Wisconsin looks to earn their third victory over top-10 team in last month

February 23, 2016

The Wisconsin men’s basketball team has another tough road test ahead against No. 8 Iowa Wednesday in Iowa City, less than a week after a crushing loss in East Lansing to then No. 8 Michigan State.

The Badgers (17-10 overall, 9-5 Big Ten) currently stand two games behind the Hawkeyes (20-6, 11-3) for second place in the Big Ten, while Iowa is just a half-game behind Indiana for the top spot.

Though Wednesday’s matchup has huge conference implications for both teams, a win for Wisconsin would boost them to a better standing for in the final NCAA tournament field.

Wisconsin’s key to victory:

Avoid the slow start: The Badgers got off to slow starts in Thursday’s game against Michigan State and in Illinois Sunday. This has been a trend in quite a few games this season. But the difference between those two games is that Illinois wasn’t good enough to maintain their lead and Wisconsin wasn’t good enough to come back against the Spartans. Should the Badgers fall down early against a team like Iowa, they will once again struggle to fight their way back. The Hawkeye’s high-powered offense, one of two teams in the Big Ten to average 80 points per game, will look to burry Wisconsin at any chance they get.

Iowa player to watch: Junior guard Peter Jok

While all eyes will be on former Badger Jarrod Uthoff, Jok will create many problems of his own Wednesday. At 6-foot-6, Jok creates plenty of matchup problems for backcourt players. Nigel Hayes will likely to match up with Uthoff when they are on the court, which leaves undersized Zak Showalter to matchup with Jok.

Jok, averaging 16.3 points per game this season, has been on a hot streak as of late, scoring a combined 55 points in his last two games. He scored 23-plus points in four of his last six outings.

Jok’s possesses a skill set that rivals that of the future All-American Uthoff. While the Badgers have Hayes who can potentially keep Uthoff in check, their ability to slow down this other offensive player will be a whole other problem.