Long home winning streaks may draw national attention and make fans feel warm and fuzzy, but Big Ten coaches pointed to a simpler reason for Wisconsin’s recent 38-game home win streak, which ended Jan. 25.
They’ve had some pretty darn good teams.
The key to the Badgers’ success often has started on defense, and this year’s squad is no exception. Wisconsin (14-4, 5-2 Big Ten) leads the Big Ten in scoring defense at 59.9 points per game, while Northwestern (8-9, 2-5) ranks second at 61.8.
Wisconsin averages 10.4 more points per game on offense than NU, and its plus 10.6 scoring margin ranks third in the league.
“They don’t take chances, they don’t go for steals all that much,” NU coach Bill Carmody said. “They just play solid defense and are a fundamentally good team on both ends.”
Sophomore Alando Tucker, an explosive forward who missed most of last season with a foot injury, leads the Badgers in scoring with 14.8 points per game. Wisconsin also relies heavily on senior forward Mike Wilkinson, who averages 14.0 points and a team-leading 7.4 rebounds. Wilkinson was honored as Big Ten Player of the Week on Jan. 24 and shared the honor Jan. 17.
“They have an inside and an outside game,” said NU forward Vedran Vukusic, whose 17.6 points per game ranks fourth in the Big Ten. “(The key) is going to be stopping guys from driving and kicking it off to guys either on the perimeter or dropping it low.”
Wisconsin bounced back from a 75-65 loss to Illinois on Jan. 25 to defeat Penn State on the road. The Badgers downed the Nittany Lions 76-50 on Saturday in State College, Pa., behind 20 points from sophomore Kammron Taylor.
Taylor, a guard, started in place of Tucker, who was out with an injury.
Tonight’s game will be the Badgers’ first in the Kohl Center since their loss to the Fighting Illini. Wisconsin has not dropped consecutive home games since February 2000.
The Badgers have never lost two straight contests at the Kohl Center under coach Bo Ryan, who came to Wisconsin before the 2001-02 season.
Reach Anthony Tao at [email protected].
