Wisconsin finished a nearly perfect February with a resounding victory over Washington on Tuesday.
The Badgers will face perhaps their biggest test of the Big Ten season in their March opener, however.
No. 11 Wisconsin, which went 6-1 in February, will visit East Lansing, Mich., on Sunday afternoon for a showdown with No. 8 Michigan State.
The Badgers (22-6, 12-5), who have three games remaining before the conference tournament, have a longshot chance of sharing the regular-season title. They’ll have to defeat the Spartans (23-5, 14-3) to stay in contention.
Michigan State and arch-rival Michigan enter Sunday’s action tied for first place in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin bounced back from its only February loss, a 77-73 overtime heartbreaker to Oregon, by thumping the Huskies 88-62.
The Badgers led by as many as 32 points.
“We were in attack mode from start to finish,” coach Greg Gard said. “I’ll go through the film and look at the possessions, but I don’t think we ever really relented or backed off, even when we had a large lead. It was a mindset in all of the timeouts to continue to attack and play aggressively.”
The Badgers scored 42 points in the paint and made 10 3-pointers.
“It shows how dynamic we are and the confidence we have in each other,” said John Blackwell, who had 24 points and 10 rebounds. “It shows that we can score without threes, play great defense and get transition buckets. We just have to keep doing it.”
Blackwell is the Badgers’ second-leading scorer at an average of 15.2 points per game. Slowing down guard John Tonje will be an even bigger concern for the Spartans. He’s averaging 19.5 ppg, highlighted by four games in which he’s exceeded the 30-point mark.
Michigan State is coming off its most exhilarating victory of the season, a 58-55 road win over Maryland that was decided on Tre Holloman’s last second, 3-point heave from beyond halfcourt.
“I felt we deserved to win the game,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. “I don’t think it was a lucky shot at the end. I thought we played inspired basketball. … All in all, an ugly game. But for us, a pretty win is better than an ugly loss. And it was an ugly game because both teams played so hard.”
The Spartans, who have won four straight games, control their own destiny in terms of the conference title. They’ll visit Iowa on Thursday before a rematch with the Wolverines on March 9. Michigan State secured a 13-point victory in Ann Arbor on Feb. 21 before its win over the Terrapins.
“I feel like myself and the team are in a really good spot right now,” Spartans forward Xavier Booker said. “We’ve just got to keep stacking up games. We’ve gone on a little stretch here where we’ve won our past few games, so we’ve just got to keep it going. The Big Ten title is what we want; it’s what all of us want.”
The Spartans rely on balance offensively, but freshman guard Jase Richardson has emerged as their top threat, leading the team in scoring four of the last six games. He’s averaging 16.8 points during that stretch.
–Field Level Media
