The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team may have won the Chicago Invitational Challenge just days ago, but during head coach Bo Ryan’s weekly press conference Monday, all anybody cared to talk about was a different challenge.
For the 2011 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, No. 7 Wisconsin is preparing to hit the road to brave the Dean Smith Center and tussle with No. 5 North Carolina.
The matchup serves as one of the most highly anticipated games on the Badgers’ schedule this season, as some of the nation’s highest profile players will go toe-to-toe.
“How about that”? Ryan asked, marveling at the idea of UW point guard Jordan Taylor going up against UNC’s Kendall Marshall. “Those two guys, they understand the game, they understand what the team needs, and they bring that every night when they go on the floor.”
“Yeah, I think that’s going to be interesting, but there’s a lot more to the game. But, that will be a challenge within the Challenge.”
The tournament Wisconsin won last weekend has not been completely forgotten, however. The Badgers earned some serious credibility over the Thanksgiving weekend after defeating Bradley 66-43 and Brigham Young 73-56 to come away as tournament champions. Wisconsin shot 42.4 and 50.9 percent from the field, respectively, in those two games and now stand at 6-0 on the year.
That convinced voters to give Wisconsin access to the top 10 in both polls, climbing from No. 11 to No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 9 in the AP Top 25.
The Tar Heels, on the other hand, tripped up last weekend. Previously ranked No. 1, North Carolina fell to Nevada-Las Vegas 90-80 in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational, sending the Tar Heels down the polls some, but not far.
Despite the Tar Heels now sporting a blemished 5-1 mark, Ryan said he does not anticipate that making too much of a difference in their effort against the Badgers Wednesday night.
“North Carolina isn’t any different than when they went out to Vegas,” he said. “Probably a little ornerier maybe now, but they were going to play hard against us no matter whether that game was on the left-hand side or the right-hand side.”
Ryan said he recognizes the threat presented by the Tar Heels in both their transitional game and their ability to get to the line.
Carolina averages 28 free throws a game, compared to Wisconsin’s mere 9.7, and when considering North Carolina’s fast-paced approach to the game, Ryan said he knows he has to prepare his defense to protect not just the rim in transition, but also the arc.
Basically, the message comes down to the fact that Wisconsin cannot forget to protect any particular area of the court when hurrying down the floor with North Carolina’s offense.
“The idea is to get back, protect the rim and then protect against shooters, and that takes five guys,” Ryan said. “You definitely want to be in a five-on-five game with them. If you’re in an open area of three-on-three, Carolina wins three-on-three.
“Carolina [can] beat anybody in the country three-on-three, four-on-four. Five-on-five is your best chance.”
Wednesday also marks the beginning of a difficult four-day stretch for Wisconsin, as the team will be forced to fly back from North Carolina early Thursday morning and will have to regroup in time for a Saturday afternoon tip-off with in-state rival and No. 16 Marquette at the Kohl Center.
Due to the nature of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge – a coordinated effort involving all of the conferences’ schools – scheduling this portion of the non-conference season was out of Ryan’s hands, and his team will be forced to take it as it comes.
“You have to go the night that they [Big Ten/ACC Challenge] say, and then with the Marquette game, we always try to get it to be a weekend game when a lot of people can attend and a lot of people can get in to it,” Ryan said. “So those are the two we have this week, and we’ll see what we can do.”
