It’s been a rough week for the Wisconsin men’s basketball program. Despite everything that has happened this week the Badgers will need to move on quickly as they prepare to welcome in a talented Michigan State team as they attempt to snap their current eight game losing streak to the Spartans.
In this Badgers Wire feature, we will look at the three keys or questions for Wisconsin as they prepare to play Michigan State on Saturday.
LAYUP: CAN WISCONSIN LIMIT MICHIGAN STATE’S BALL MOVEMENT?
In the first meeting against Michigan State the Spartans did an excellent job of rotating the basketball around and creating open shots for themselves. As the Spartans registered 20 assists on their 27 made field goals.
In fact, over Wisconsin’s last three games the Badgers have struggled to consistently stop ball movement as over that stretch the Badgers defense has allowed an average of 15.6 assists a game while Wisconsin’s opponents have averaged 26.6 made field goals a game.
If Wisconsin wants to have a chance against the Spartans on Saturday the Badgers defense will need to be active and finding ways of slowing down ball movement.
As one of the reasons why Wisconsin has gone 1-2 over their last three games is they’ve allowed their opponents to shoot in rhythm. With the Spartans shooting 44.6 percent (254-for-570) from the field over Big Ten play, which leads the league Wisconsin can’t make it easy for the Spartans on the offensive end.
MID-RANGE: LIMITING MICHIGAN STATE IN TRANSITION
In Wisconsin’s loss to Iowa, the Badgers allowed the Hawkeyes to score 25 fast break points the most they have allowed this season.
That’s not good news considering the second highest amount of points the Badgers allowed off of fast break points is 19, which was scored by Michigan State.
The Spartans are going to want to create an up tempo attack against the Badgers making it important Wisconsin’s defense consistently gets back in order to avoid the Spartans from generating high percentage shots.
One area where Michigan State is dangerous in transition is if there’s an opportunity they are willing to attempt a three. As it will be important that Wisconsin doesn’t lose any of the Spartans in transition allowing for the Spartans to kick the basketball out for a wide open three.
The Spartans are going to have their opportunities of generating points in transition against the Badgers but if the Spartans do miss their field goal attempt the Badgers will need to be able to clean up their miss.
3-POINTER: MAKING EACH OFFENSIVE POSSESSION COUNT
With the loss of Kobe King and Brad Davison being suspended by the Big Ten conference the Badgers are going to have make each offensive possession count.
Wisconsin has struggled to score at times and due to the length of the Spartans, it isn’t going to get any easier. Not to mention the Spartans held the Badgers to shoot 35.6 percent (21-for-59) from the field when the two teams played the first time.
Making it important that Wisconsin runs its offensive sets well and try to generate a quality look each time they have the basketball.
Michigan State is going to try and force Wisconsin’s offense to get sloppy with the basketball at times but Wisconsin only turned the basketball over nine times in the first meeting.
As D’Mitrik Trice and Trevor Anderson will be counted on not turning the basketball over and not allowing the Spartans to try and speed them up.
Trice is coming off likely his best game of the season against Iowa and he has done well of taking care of the basketball as he’s averaged 1.7 turnovers a game. Trice’s ability to set up his teammates and continue to take care of the basketball will be important but he’ll also be counted on to crash the glass.
If Trice can help attack the offensive glass and keep offensive possessions alive will go a long way for Wisconsin’s offense. It will also force the Spartans to play additional defense and prevent them from getting out in transition.