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After a heartbreaking 61-58 loss to No. 25 Marquette on Saturday in Milwaukee, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (6-2) will take on the Idaho State Bengals (4-5) at the Kohl Center tonight.
The loss Saturday was the Badgers’ second loss to the Golden Eagles in as many years. Though the loss came at the hands of archrival Marquette, senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft and the Badgers aren’t fazed by the loss and are already moving on.
“We got back here to work today and did some nice things,” Krabbenhoft said. “We’ve just got to look forward to what’s next. … We have a tough game against Idaho State, so we just have to be ready.”
“You just have to get back on the court the next day and get better,” UW associate head coach Greg Gard added. “It’s pretty simple. It’s not the first setback we’ve had, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. You just have to bounce back the next day and get ready to go.”
Despite losing the annual rivalry game to Marquette, the Badgers aren’t dwelling on the defeat. Gard and the rest of the coaching staff have been preaching that a win or loss has the same effect, no matter who the team faces.
“It doesn’t matter who it’s against,” Gard said. “We never really get concerned about who we’re playing. The fans make a big deal about the rivalry, but whether you win that one or lose that one, you have to quickly move on to the next one.”
Wisconsin’s two losses this season have come against ranked teams — No. 2 Connecticut and Marquette. Idaho State, though not possessing the same athleticism as the Golden Eagles or the Huskies, will present a tough challenge for the Badgers.
Before beating Utah on Dec. 6, the Bengals lost five consecutive games. However, three of those losses came in overtime.
One of those losses was an 88-82 defeat courtesy of Long Beach State, a team that nearly upset the Badgers on Nov. 16 on Wisconsin’s home court.
Gard, along with the rest of the team, knows that playing Idaho State won’t be a walk in the park.
“I know [Idaho State] is very well-coached,” Gard said. “[Bengals head coach] Joe O’Brien has won a few national championships as a junior college coach. … He knows his basketball, and his team is going to play very well and extremely hard.”
In matching up against Idaho State, Wisconsin will have to defend Amorrow Morgan, a 6-foot-5-inch guard who averages 17 points per game. Though the Badgers have had trouble defending quick guards early in the season, the Bengals will have their hands full guarding UW guard Trevon Hughes, who leads the Badgers averaging nearly 14 points per game.
Also, the emergence of freshman guard/forward Rob Wilson will give the Bengals yet another Wisconsin force to stop.
“He’s fearless,” Krabbenhoft said of Wilson. “He doesn’t care about the names on the back of the jersey; he’s just going out there playing for Wisconsin and trying to help this team get wins.”
“That’s good, because in my eyes I believe [Krabbenhoft] is the most fearless one on the team,” Wilson added. “That’s a good compliment coming from Joe.”
Wilson also believes the team has much work to do, and bouncing back against Idaho State is the most important thing for the Badgers to worry about at the moment.
“As Coach Ryan always says, ‘We have to look forward to the next challenge,'” Wilson said. “Personally I think we beat ourselves in that game. As long as we work better, we could be considered one of the best teams too.”