Hoosiers going to Wisconsin

The Hoosiers travel to Madison, Wisc., Tuesday with hopes of winning consecutive games for the first time since IU’s victory against the Badgers on Jan. 14.

Tuesday marks the first of three games against ranked opponents in a six-day stretch for the IU’s men’s basketball team. After playing No. 14 Wisconsin, IU (15-11, 5-8) will return home to play host to No. 20 Iowa Thursday and No. 22 Ohio State Sunday.

With a weeklong gauntlet looming on IU’s schedule, IU Coach Tom Crean said Monday on the Big Ten Coaches Weekly Teleconference that IU is focusing entirely on Wisconsin.

“They are obviously hot for a reason,” Crean said. “They are playing both ends of the court with great confidence and we have our work cut out for us. There is no doubt
about it.”

Wisconsin has been a streaky team all season. Similarly to January’s matchup in Assembly Hall between IU and Wisconsin, the Badgers enter Tuesday’s game on a winning streak.

They started the season on a 16-game winning streak before IU ended their
undefeated run. It was one of the Badgers’ five losses in a six-game span. Wisconsin has since righted its ship, winning five consecutive games and defeating three top-15 opponents in the process.

Crean said Wisconsin is playing with extreme confidence.

“They are shooting the ball at an amazing rate right now, with the way they are shooting it from three, the way they are getting to the foul line,” he said.

During their current win streak, the Badgers are shooting 39.2 percent from behind the arc and are averaging eight 3-pointers per game.

IU sophomore point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell said Wisconsin is always a threat to score, no matter who is on the court.

“They have shot the ball extremely well, especially from the outside so we have to take away their open jump shots,” he said.

Forwards Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker carry the offensive load for Wisconsin and create matchup problems because of their size and ability to score from anywhere on the floor. The duo averages 26.8 points and 12.6 rebounds per game.

Kaminsky stands at 7 feet tall and shoots 41 percent from behind the arc. Dekker is 6 feet 8 inches tall and is a 36.8 percent 3-point shooter in his college career.

Crean said Kaminsky is able to score off the dribble, at the rim and from behind the arc.

“He’s literally taking the ball from the 3-point line and getting all the way to the basket,” Crean said. “The shooting is there, the post-up is there, without question, but the driving game is something that obviously they are spending a lot of time on. They have always been a very, very good isolation, one-on-one, get-the-matchup-
that-they-want team, whether it’s in the post or on the perimeter.”

While the Hoosiers held Kaminsky in check in January — limiting him to 11 points and no 3-point attempts — en route to a victory and a court-storming at Assembly Hall, Crean said IU is living in the present.

He said he is pacing his team during the entire season, and it wouldn’t serve a purpose to reflect on the past.

“You’re trying to get them to the point where they are playing good basketball deeper into the season, where they’ll continue to improve, and I think you just can’t get away from improvement,” Crean said.