Wisconsin coach Greg Gard promises the No. 24 Badgers will stay focused on the present when the giant killers play at Ohio State on Tuesday.
It is natural to consider recent victories over three ranked opponents and think about a postseason run, but Gard made it clear that this was not the case after a commanding 92-71 win over then-No. 10 Michigan State on Friday.
“We’re on to next,” Gard said. “In this profession, I don’t think you get to this point if your switch goes off. Maybe we turn down the volume a little bit, but the switch doesn’t go off.
“We’re already in Ohio State prep. Yeah, you enjoy the moment, but I think everyone that’s in this is extremely competitive and competitors don’t do a good job of flipping the switch off… until maybe May.”
The Badgers (18-7, 10-4 Big Ten) have proven they can play with the best after a sluggish start. They are 11-3 since a 76-66 overtime loss to Villanova on Dec. 19, with victories over No. 1 Michigan and No. 10 Illinois.
Wisconsin looks to avoid a letdown against the desperate Buckeyes (16-9, 8-6), who generally play better opponents close, but have been unable to pull off a win and are 0-7 in Quad 1 games.
Ohio State blew an opportunity Saturday in Nashville with a 70-66 nonconference setback to No. 14 Virginia after leading by six with 10 minutes to play.
“There is no moral victory here,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. “Our belief and expectation was to come in and win the game and we didn’t get the job done.”
The Buckeyes are 0-6 against top-25 teams. Aside from a pair of double-digit losses to Michigan, the other four defeats have been by a total of 16 points.
Facing Wisconsin was already a challenge, but it became even harder since Ohio State announced before the Virginia game that starting guard John Mobley Jr. (15.1 ppg) would be out indefinitely with a hand injury.
Taison Chatman had four points, an assist and two turnovers in his first career start for Mobley, and Amare Bynum chipped in with 15 points.
“I wanted to pick up the slack for (Mobley) because he is such a good player,” Bynum said. “He makes a lot of good plays for us on offense. We just have to keep moving the ball on offense until he gets back.”
Defensively, the Buckeyes must be aware of guards Nick Boyd (20.6 ppg) and John Blackwell (19.0 ppg), who combined for 43 points in a 92-82 win over the Buckeyes on Jan. 31.
“We’ve got to guard the ball and do a good do a better job of taking away the 3-point line,” Diebler said. “They’re so dynamic in transition with their guard play that taking care of the ball as part of your transition defense, making sure that we keep the ball out of the paint early in possessions is going to be really important against them.”
–Field Level Media
