Wisconsin: Dominant at Home

The Wisconsin Badgers broke the Michigan State Spartans unbeaten start to the Big Ten Conference on Tuesday night with a simply dominant display, which saw the final score read 67-49. The story of the Badgers success may well have been somewhat over-shadowed by an injury to the Spartans start player and reigning Big Ten player of the year Kalin Lucas, but its significance should be no less under-estimated. Wisconsin is now 10-0 at home including wins over top six ranked teams Michigan State, Purdue and Duke.

A difficult win over Penn State, followed by a tough loss to Purdue had led some to speculate as to whether Wisconsin’s period of dominance over Michigan State at home would be about to come to an end. However, they quickly took control of the game with an array of threes helping them to set up an early 10-2 lead, from there they never looked back and were consistently able to hold off any mini-Spartan comebacks throughout the game.

It’s actually slightly surprising to many that Wisconsin has been able to compete as strongly as they have recently this season. Star forward Jon Leuer has been sidelined indefinitely with a broken wrist after playing the first 16 games of the season. Since then Trevon Hughes has taken control as the team’s go-to offensive guy, Hughes averages 15.5 PPG as well as 4.8 rebounds. Hughes had averaged over 16 points per game before the clash with Michigan State, but only managed five points while being limited to just 24 minutes because of foul troubles. However, all that meant was that the league got a firsthand showing of this team’s resolve and depth. Jordan Taylor averages 9.8 PPG, but on Tuesday he took control knocking down 17 points while registering four assists and four rebounds. The sophomore has been playing brilliantly of late having scored 20 and 13 points in his previous two games; his improved play could be a key factor for the success of Wisconsin in the rest of the Big Ten season and beyond.

This is a team with a nice inside outside balance; they have a number of solid rebounders even with Leuer’s absence and some pretty useful three-point shooters. There is no doubt that the talented Badgers guard group does miss the inside presence of Leuer to some extent, and that his return before the NCAA tournament would be a huge boost. Another concern for Coach Bo Ryan and the March Madness will be Wisconsin’s performance away from home where they are a less impressive 7-5, including a disappointing defeat to Green Bay. That being said; expect to see Wisconsin at the NCAA tournament and expect them to do pretty well too.

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