Tipoff: 5:06pm CST Location: Kohl Center - Madison, WI
Television: Big Ten Network
Live Stats and Internet Radio: Huskers.com
Radio: IMG Husker Sports Network | KLIN 1400 in Lincoln - KFAB 1110 in Omaha - KRVN 880 in Lexington
Play by play - Kent Pavelka Color - Matt Davison
Back on Dec 27th, Nebraska made Wisconsin look like world-beaters. On a Tuesday evening in Lincoln, the Badgers had their way in just about every statistical category, and thus Husker Nation was once again given a cold reception into the Big Ten at the hand of the furry rodents. Since that most unfortunate of starts, Nebraska was forced to suffer through two more games without starting center Jorge Diaz, and guard Dylan Talley, totalling about 20 points of lost production throughout the most difficult stretch of the conference season.
Which brings us to Sunday's re-match with the Badgers, in Madison.
While Nebraska continued the gruesome streak of killer conference games, going 1-4, Wisconsin hasn't fared a whole lot better surprisingly. The Badgers dropped three straight games- at home to unranked Iowa and #10 Michigan State, and on the road at #16 Michigan - losing their AP ranking in the process.
I truly do not expect the final outcome of this game to be any different than that nasty beat down in December.
I do expect that Nebraska will give the Badgers a better showing with Diaz and Talley back in the lineup. We saw the effect of their return immediately in Nebraska's fiesty effort against Illinois. Nebraska had a legitimate chance to win that game all the way up until the final seconds. Nebraska's next showing against an admittingly weak Penn State team resulted in a complete win.
Wisconsin on the other hand, has run into an up-start Iowa Hawkeye team that shocked the Big Ten winning in Madison, something not many teams can pull off, as well as two ranked teams from Michigan that look to be NCAA qualifiers on the rise. Jordan Taylor continues to live up to his All-American status unfortunately, averaging over 16 ppg in Big Ten play after a slow start to the season- averaging just 12.2 ppg leading up to league play.
So the question is, can Nebraska put together a complete game tonight? And if so...will that be enough to topple the Badgers? Unbelievably after the big loss back in December, NU can pull even with Wisconsin in the conference standings at 2-4 with a win tonight. Remember, Iowa beat these guys in Madison, and if Iowa can do it....hell, anyone can!
Go Big (Husker) Red!