[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]

DETROIT — At this point, the opponents keep getting harder. No matter what the seeds may indicate.

Even though it will be the No. 10 seed Davidson that No. 3 Wisconsin will take on in its Sweet 16 matchup Friday night at Ford Field with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line, the Badgers are going to be in for a challenge.

“We know that [Davidson is] on an all-time high, and if they weren’t they wouldn’t be where they are at,” forward Marcus Landry said. “They beat a great team in Georgetown, and they played some great tough teams before then. We know that we have to be prepared for them and can’t take them lightly.”

Taking them lightly would be tough to do at this point.

Davidson entered the tournament on a 22-game winning streak and has since made it 24 in a row by beating No. 7 Gonzaga in the first round and shocking No. 2 Georgetown in the second round — showing just how dangerous it can be.

Leading the Wildcats is sophomore guard Stephen Curry who has quickly become one of the stars of the tournament with 40-point and 30-point performances in the first two rounds.

Though Davidson has found itself down early in both of its tournament games, Curry has scored a combined 55 points in the second half of the games to help his team earn two comeback wins.

“We know that as you keep winning and progressing in the tournament, the challenges get greater and harder, and Stephen Curry is probably the best guard we have played all year,” forward Joe Krabbenhoft said.

UW has experience playing against talented guards, though, and it will be Michael Flowers, who shut down Michigan State’s talented guard Drew Neitzel earlier this season on his way to earning All-Big Ten defensive honors, that draws the task of defending the Davidson star.

“With somebody as quick as Curry, I’m going to have to force him to the screens, make him go one way,” Flowers said. “Force him to get help, get a hand in his face every time he shoots the ball, you know, corral him when he gets the ball.”

Curry, the nation’s fourth-leading scorer, has been finding ways to make baskets even against solid defenses, though, and reminds Badger coach Bo Ryan of a former Badger with a knack for giving opposing defenses problems.

“Stephen Curry can create his own shot. He’s a Devin Harris in that way,” Ryan said. “He can stop on a dime. Quick release. All those things. And we’ve faced some players who are pretty good, but I don’t know if we faced a player that’s as hot as he is right now.”

In the second round, UW showed its defensive abilities by containing Kansas State’s Michael Beasley, but even for the country’s best scoring defense, stopping Curry won’t be easy.

“We will be put to the test, and our whole team defensive scheme will be put to the test. It is going to take all of us to stop him,” forward Greg Stiemsma said. “He is going to get his shots. We just need to contain him and make sure we are getting a hand in his face.”

Curry isn’t the only threat Davidson has, however. Joining him in the Wildcat backcourt is Jason Richards, who led the nation in assists with 8.0 per game.

Against Georgetown, Richards was also able to contribute 20 points, proving that the Wildcats are powered by more than one man.

“What we have to do is try to figure out a way to beat Davidson as a team, with Stephen Curry as one of the key parts,” Ryan said.

Though Curry and Richards make up a formidable backcourt, Davidson lacks size in the frontcourt, a factor Wisconsin hopes to exploit.

“We have a little more size than Davidson, and hopefully that will play to our advantage,” guard Jason Bohannon said. “But we still have to do the main things on the floor like take care of the ball.”

Through two tournament games, Wisconsin has taken care of the ball, while doing just about everything else right as well. UW has won its first two games by an average of 16 points in reaching the Sweet 16.

But with Stephen Curry shooting to knock out another higher seed Friday, the Badgers aren’t about to overlook the Wildcats, no matter what the seedings say.

“We realize we have a challenge in front of us,” senior Brian Butch said. “We realize that [Curry]’s one of the best players in the country … so for us we realize we have a challenge, but we’ve had challenges all year. So hopefully we can live up to those challenges like we have so far all year.”