Through their first six games, the Wisconsin Badgers have been dominant. Blowout wins against the likes of Kennesaw State, Bradley and other non-ranked teams have yielded a 33.8-point average margin of victory for Wisconsin. But the Badgers’ schedule, however, is about to get significantly tougher.
Wednesday night, the No. 7/9 Badgers (6-0) will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face the No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels (5-1) at the Dean E. Smith Center. One of the most talked about matchups of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, this contest has been hotly anticipated ever since the college basketball season was released. With UNC opening as the No. 1 team in the nation, the game quickly became one of the highlights of the early season schedule.
North Carolina cruised through its first five games, including the season-opening Nov. 11 win over Michigan State in the Carrier Classic, but stumbled Saturday night in a 90-80 loss to Nevada-Las Vegas in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational. Wisconsin, meanwhile, wrapped up a Chicago Invitational Challenge title with a 73-56 win over Brigham Young Saturday night.
Regardless of the blemish now marking UNC’s record, UW recognizes Wednesday night’s game hasn’t become any easier.
“Carolina is still Carolina,” head coach Bo Ryan said. “They are still the same players, and we’ve got them in the Dean Dome. So North Carolina isn’t any different than when they went out to Vegas. [They’re] 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 [of the win column].”
Aside from the matchup of two top-10 teams, the biggest storyline entering Wednesday’s game is the availability of UNC forward Harrison Barnes. Averaging 17.3 points per games, Barnes, a sophomore, is the Tar Heels’ leading scorer. Against UNLV Saturday, he sprained his right ankle chasing after a loose ball and exited the game for several minutes. Barnes did eventually return and finished with 15 points, though he later exited Orleans Arena on crutches.
Tuesday evening, North Carolina officials said that after practicing fully Tuesday, Barnes is expected to play “barring unexpected setbacks,” according to ESPN.com.
Before committing to UNC, Barnes was recruited by Ryan at Wisconsin and actually received one of his first scholarship offers from the Badgers.
“Well, we were right, early on, [thinking] this kid could be pretty good,” Ryan said. “Harrison Barnes is a player, a great person, just really a good family and just an all-American guy that can play.”
Outside of Barnes, the Tar Heels are led by one of the nation’s most talented starting lineups. Junior forward John Henson is second behind Barnes with 15.8 points per game and leads UNC with 9.8 rebounds and three blocks per game. Henson, listed at 6-foot-11, 220 pounds, has recorded double-doubles in 12 of his last 16 games dating back to last season and has also pulled down 10 or more rebounds in 18 of his last 22 games. Paired with Henson in the backcourt is the 7-foot-tall, 250-pound senior forward Tyler Zeller. Zeller is third on the team with 13.5 points and second with 7.2 rebounds per game.
“They are so good with their bigs, and so long,” Ryan said. “It’s hard to keep the ball out of the post on them. And when you do and you’re trying to get in position, you do put yourself in position sometimes to foul. And they control fouls. They control fouls with the best of them.”
UNC’s backcourt consists of sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall (4.8 points, 10.8 assists per game) and junior guard Dexter Strickland (8.3 points, 3.0 rebounds per game) and has been largely responsible for powering the Tar Heel attack that ranks fifth in the nation with 88 points scored per game.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, has enjoyed a stunningly hot start to the season on the offensive end. Buoyed by an impressive breakout performance from sophomore guard Ben Brust – the team’s leading scorer with 12.8 points per game – and the continued development of fellow sophomore guard Josh Gasser (fourth on the team with 10.2 points per game and first with .714 shooting from three-point range), the Badgers rank 23rd in the nation with a .494 field goal percentage. From behind the arc, UW is second with a .472 clip.
Star point guard Jordan Taylor, who garnered preseason All-American honors after averaging 18.1 points per game last season, has focused on facilitating this offense thus far with a team-high 5.8 assists per game. Taylor is third with 11 points per game, and his willingness to set up opportunities for his teammates has played a significant role in allowing younger plays like Brust a chance to develop.
“We see it every day, so it hasn’t really surprised us,” Taylor said of Brust. “We know what he can bring to the table, so it’s not really eye-popping for us. He’s a good player; he can score. We’re used to that, we know.”
