Wisconsin Basketball are on a six-game winning streak which started by beating the second ranked Michigan Wolverines at home. So what do the Badgers need to do on Saturday to sweep the Wolverines?
Wisconsin Basketball was in a bad tail-spin three weeks ago. The loss on the road to Western Kentucky to close out 2018 and the non-conference slate was a killer. That led to losing to Minnesota. They did beat Penn State, but then they lost in overtime at home to Purdue and then on the road against Maryland. The Badgers felt rock bottom of the season and there was only one place to go from there.
The feel around the program was that Wisconsin isn’t new to upsetting highly-ranked teams at home. I mean most recently it happened in 2013 when the Badgers knocked off Michigan. Just because Wisconsin had lost four out of five, everyone had a feeling something special was going to happen at the Kohl Center. And it did. Not only did Wisconsin snap a bad losing skid and knock off the second ranked team, Michigan was also undefeated.
That game sparked a gigantic run for Wisconsin. They were being roughly seeded at eight or nine, but now they’re getting looks at a possible three. Lukas Harkins had Wisconsin as a five seed in his bracketology before the big road win at Minnesota.
Wisconsin’s defense has been tremendous during this winning streak. The Badgers have held all six opponents to their season lows. For those efforts, their scoring defense now ranks 8th in the country at 61 points per game. The first four wins were by 10 or more. They got revenge on Maryland for a seven-point win and the defeat of Minnesota was a five-point victory.
Thanks for Michigan State losing three-straight, the Badgers and Spartans are in a tie for third place in the Big Ten. It’s a pretty far-fetched hope, but if Wisconsin wins and Nebraska beats Purdue, the Badgers will move into a four-team tie for first place in the Big Ten. They know beating Michigan is doable. It will be exactly three weeks since they played in Madison. Even the same start time. It will be a totally different atmosphere in Ann Arbor, but Wisconsin needs to focus on a few keys to beating Michigan so let’s get right to them.