Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET the No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers (16-0, 3-0 Big Ten) will head to Indiana where the conference rival Hoosiers (11-5, 1-2 Big Ten) will try to score their biggest win of the season to date on their home floor. Watch the game on ESPN or live stream it free by clicking this link. Badgers fans can listen to the game on 620 WTMJ while Hoosiers fans can find the radio broadcast on 97.1 HANK FM.
The Badgers are off to the best start in Wisconsin history, and are still being overshadowed by the more-hyped likes of Duke, Kentucky and Kansas in the media. Perhaps a win tonight over one of college basketball's most storied programs, Indiana, will plant the Badgers squarely in the consciousness of the nation.
Certainly the Big Ten has noticed Wisconsin's dominance, even if the rest of America's been a little slow to catch on. Head coach Bo Ryan is warning his kids that everyone's gunning to hand them their first loss.
"I know the thing about the target," Ryan said. "I understand all that. Just look around the country. It's conference time. Anything can happen. Our guys know it." Working in their favor is a six-season, 12-game winning streak against the Hoosiers.
"I didn't know the numbers, the players certainly never hear it from us," Ryan said. "I just don't dwell on that kind of domain. We just prepare for the next opponent, and we don't say -- I don't try to get my guys ready to play somebody by using anything other than the facts, the stats, here it is. Here's what we've got to do. This guy likes to do this for them. This guy likes to do that. Here's what we have to do better."
To earn a 13th consecutive win, Wisconsin will need to limit the production of sophomore guard Yogi Ferrell, who leads Indiana in scoring (17.5 PPG). Desptite lacking last year's collection of NBA talent, this year's group is gritty as they showed in coming back from a 15-point deficit against Penn State in their most recent game.
"I'm proud of the way we responded to the adversity of the game," head coach Tom Crean said. "We grew up. We played with real confidence. We're going to build on it."
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