Notebook: Badgers enjoy rare breather in middle of Big Ten slate
MADISON, Wis. -- During the lengthy grind of the Big Ten men's basketball schedule, there are few opportunities for breathers. So when they arrive, it's best to take advantage as much as possible.
That's the scenario Wisconsin faces early this week. UW (18-2, 5-1) does not play a game for a span of seven days until squaring off at Iowa (13-7, 4-3) on Saturday. It marks the Badgers' second-longest break between games since the regular season began on Nov. 14, surpassed only by a nine-day stretch in nonconference play in December during finals.
"We can't change it," Badgers coach Bo Ryan said during his weekly Monday news conference. "You just make the best of it. Hopefully you get some of the nicks healed up just like everybody has. I can't believe how many injuries there's been in the league this year.
"Just seems like more of the key players for teams have either been knocked out for the season or knocked out for weeks. So it's close to that mid-part of the Big Ten. We know how physical a conference it is. You just hope you can survive."
Wisconsin remains without point guard Traevon Jackson, who broke his right foot Jan. 11 against Rutgers. Iowa, meanwhile, could be without leading scorer and rebounder Aaron White, who sustained what school officials called a stinger during the team's 67-63 loss against Purdue. White is averaging 15.1 points and 6.6 rebounds for the Hawkeyes, and Iowa coach Fran McCaffery indicated he would be evaluated again on Wednesday.
"He's a huge part of that team for every reason you could possibly put on a plus list," Ryan said. "Hopefully he'll get back to full strength. It's his last year. I know Fran's got a deep bench, so I think his situation is maybe compared to some other teams with the depth that they have maybe not as dire straits."
Wisconsin and Iowa met just six days ago, and the Badgers cruised to an 82-50 victory. McCaffery said he did not handle the loss any different with his players and tried to use the game as a teaching opportunity.
"We'll come back and get ready for Wisconsin," McCaffery said. "We just got ready for them so in terms of personnel, (and) kind of what we do, what they do, we kind of know.
"Will we make any changes? We might make a lineup change depending upon Aaron's situation. Other than that, both teams do what they do. My hope is that we play a lot better than we did on Tuesday night."
Ryan noted Wisconsin would try and limit physicality during the early portion of the week to allow players to recover. One banged up player was forward Sam Dekker, who suffered a cut on his hand from the rim during Wisconsin's 69-64 overtime victory against Michigan on Saturday. A team official said Dekker returned to practice Monday.
"We'll do some things that with shooting and with defensive movement, you don't have as much contact now," Ryan said. "People say contact, if you play a regular game, you think about all the contact that's made with another person in basketball without any pad at all. There's a lot of contact. You cut back on that a little bit. But it doesn't mean you walk through anything. Everything we do is at game speed."
Scout team readies: One advantage for Wisconsin's scout team preparing for Iowa is that the Badgers will play the Hawkeyes twice in the span of 11 days. The only game in between meetings was Wisconsin's victory against Michigan on Saturday.
"They're more familiar, but it also means you still have to execute," Ryan said. "That also means our scout team is better at running what Iowa runs. They only had one other team in between there, so when we go back on the scout team with what Iowa does, Ethan (Happ) and Jordan (Hill) and those other guys are licking their chops. Heck, we know this. We can be better at Iowa's stuff this time. But you still have to worry about yourself more so than the opponent. Scouting is important. But what's most important is what your team is doing to get ready."
UW moves up: Wisconsin climbed to No. 5 in the Associated Press top-25 poll on Monday, up from sixth one week ago. UW crept ahead of Villanova, which lost to Georgetown last week.
Wisconsin, which opened the season ranked third, has been as high as No. 2 and as low as No. 7 following its loss at Rutgers. The Badgers were the only Big Ten team to win on the road over the weekend. The rest of the conference went 0-6.
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