Indiana has one of the more consequential games of the season coming up this Saturday with Greg Gard and Wisconsin coming to town. This is a Quad 1 game for an Indiana team that needs more Quad 1 wins.
The Badgers come to town as one of the top teams in the Big Ten, boasting an 8-3 record in conference play that has them solidly in the hunt for the regular season title. Still, both KenPom and Bart Torvik favor Indiana here, by at least five points.
All signs point to this being a very winnable game
for Indiana, so long as it plays its game and shoots a little better than it did on the road at USC.
Here are 5 things to know about Wisconsin:
- The Badgers are just behind Indiana in the national rankings for 3pA/FGA at 51%. They are one of just three other teams in the conference taking more shots inside the arc than outside of it, the others being Illinois and Nebraska. The Hoosiers did not defend the perimeter well against Nebraska, and can’t afford a repeat of that here.
- Wisconsin’s leading scorer is Nick Boyd, a transfer guard from SDSU in his final year of eligibility. Greg Gard goes through him on 30% of Wisconsin’s possessions, per KenPom, more than any other player on the roster. The 6’3” point guard isn’t one of the leading perimeter shooters, but attempts nearly five per game and hits a tad over 31% from deep, averaging 20 points per game.
- John Blackwell is a more familiar name to Hoosier fans, as he’s in his third season with Wisconsin. As a junior, he’s second on the team with 18.5 points per game, shooting 37.5% from 3-point range on more than six attempts per contest. This is somebody that the defense cannot lose on the perimeter while it focuses on stopping Boyd.
- As of Thursday, Wisconsin is the only team to have beaten Michigan this season. Unlike Indiana, the Badgers have managed to avoid the bad losses, but the win over the Wolverines is their NCAA Tournament Resume crown jewel, and proof that they can hang with anyone when they’re at their best.
- Besides the win in Ann Arbor, this Badgers team has yet to lose a conference game on the road. Indiana will be a different caliber opponent than Wisconsin’s other two road wins, which came against Penn State and Minnesota, but not on the tier of the Michigan team the Badgers upset a few weeks back. There aren’t many teams in college basketball playing that well on the road, which is something to consider against the presumed home-court advantage in Bloomington.
Is there anything you’re watching for against Wisconsin? Share your thoughts!
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