When No. 21 Wisconsin and Iowa last met, on Jan. 3 in Madison, Wis., the Badgers set a school record by making 21 3-pointers in a 116-85 rout.
Kamari McGee, who came off the bench to make four of those treys en route to a 12-point night, said after the game that the Hawkeyes “didn’t care about defense.”
That remark received the attention of Iowa players ahead of the teams’ Big Ten Conference rematch Saturday in Iowa City.
“We don’t need extra motivation from something like that,” Hawkeyes forward Even Brauns said, “but it is on the forefront of some guys’ minds.”
That night was a turning point of sorts for both teams. While the Hawkeyes (13-9, 4-7 Big Ten) have slid near the bottom of the conference, Wisconsin (18-5, 8-4) is tied for fourth and has won eight of its last 10 league games.
The Badgers are succeeding in a manner different from typical teams under coach Greg Gard. After sporting one of the slowest tempos in Division I for years, they have sped things up considerably, and it has resulted in the team averaging 81.3 points per game while maintaining its usual low turnover rate.
Wisconsin is coming off a deceptively close 76-64 home win over Indiana on Tuesday. The Badgers roared out to a 26-4 lead and were up by as many as 23 points in the final five minutes, getting 15 points from John Tonje and 13 from Max Klesmit.
“I thought we were really dialed in and making good decisions defensively,” Gard said. “And at times, we turned our defense into offense. That was the main thing.”
Tonje has bounced back from an injury-plagued season at Missouri to average a career-high 18.5 ppg, leading four Badgers in double figures. John Blackwell is contributing 15.2 ppg, while Klesmit and Nolan Winter chip in 10.2 apiece.
Iowa also played Tuesday night, falling 90-81 at home to No. 7 Purdue after giving up 54 second half points. The game was tied 36-36 at the break, but the Hawkeyes coughed up 22 points in the first five minutes of the second half and couldn’t make up the deficit.
“It was a combination of things in the second half,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “We gave up some transition baskets. We were doubling a little bit and our rotations weren’t quite what they needed to be. You can’t let them go on that type of run.”
Wasted in the latest defeat were Josh Dix’s 27 points, plus 23 from Payton Sandfort. It was the second-highest scoring game of Dix’s career and the ninth 20-plus point performance this season for Sandfort.
The Hawkeyes are more perimeter-oriented with leading scorer Owen Freeman (16.7 ppg, 6.7 rebounds) out for the season after due to a finger injury. Sandfort averages 16.3 ppg and Dix hits for 13.9. Iowa ranks fifth in Division I in scoring at 85.5 ppg.
The blowout win last month gave Wisconsin a 90-86 lead in the all-time series. The Hawkeyes have won three of the last four matchups in Iowa City.
