IU looks for rare road win against Wisconsin

There’s something the IU men’s basketball team hasn’t accomplished since a certain general left town.

Besides not winning a national championship, IU hasn’t won at the Kohl Center since Jan. 25, 1998.

The No. 16/17 Hoosiers (16-4, 4-4) will look to break that 10-game skid when they take on No. 25 Wisconsin (16-5, 5-3) at 9 p.m. EST today in Madison.

“I think it has been their players and their style and how they play together as a team,” IU Coach Tom Crean said in a release from IU Athletics. “They have really embraced the concept of protecting their home court and playing well at home.”

The Badgers are coming off a 2010-11 campaign in which they went a perfect 17-0 at the Kohl Center. However, they haven’t defended their home floor in the same fashion they did last season.

Not only did Wisconsin drop the Big Ten home opener against unranked Iowa on Dec. 31, it lost again four days later at home against then-No.11 Michigan State.

But the Badgers shook off their early Big Ten blues and recently finished a four-game winning streak. During the streak, the Badgers only allowed 57 points per game.
IU sophomore guard Victor Oladipo said it will be key for the Hoosiers to dictate the flow of the game.

“They like to play their base offense and use the shot clock and have it be a slow-paced game,” Oladipo said in a release from IU Athletics. “If we play a high-tempo game and score, then hopefully we will have a better chance of being
successful.”

Despite Wisconsin’s half-court offense, senior guard Jordan Taylor still lit up the Hoosiers for a career-high 39 points at Assembly Hall last season. Crean said the versatility of the AP preseason All-American makes him tough to defend.

“He does a great job of leading his team, and he has confidence in each of his teammates, but if he needs to look for himself to score, he will,” Crean said in a release from IU Athletics.

In addition to having scoring options in the backcourt, the Badgers also boast scoring options in the frontcourt. Junior Jared Berggren is Wisconsin’s second-leading scorer, averaging 11 points per game, and is coming off an 18-point performance in a win at then-No. 25 Illinois on Sunday.

Crean said Berggren presents a slew of challenges for the Hoosiers.
“Berggren provides more athleticism than he gets credit for,” Crean said in a release from IU Athletics. “He is a terrific shot-blocker and rebounder based on his length and his athleticism. He is also a guy that can play outside the 3-point line, so you have to defend him out there. He is a very good post-up player that can score over both shoulders, and he can shoot the 3-point shot.”

Two and a half weeks ago, the Badgers were reeling after a 59-41 loss at then-No. 13 Michigan. At 1-3 in the Big Ten, they fell out of the AP and coaches’ poll rankings for the first time all season. That same day, IU moved into the top 10 in both polls for the first time in four seasons.

But since then, the tables have turned.

The Badgers won four straight and leapfrogged an IU team that went 1-3 during that stretch. Now, it will be up to IU to stop that tide and end a 14-year drought in Madison.
“A lot of people have had difficulty in the Kohl Center,” Crean said in a release from IU Athletics. “We have to go in there and not let them take us out of our game and how we want to play.”