The Wisconsin Badgers (10-11) have a huge challenge on their hands Friday night, as they will take on the sixth ranked Michigan State Spartans (18-3) in East Lansing.
In addition to the Spartans being simply one of the most-talented and well-coached teams in the country, the Badgers are still thin on depth, and coming off one of their worst performances of the year, an 85-67 loss at the hands of a lowly Iowa team Tuesday night.
On the other side, Michigan State has one of the most dynamic frontcourts in the nation in future NBA lottery picks Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson plus Nick Ward, and a pass-first point guard in Cassius Winston who likes to push it, which does not bode well for Wisconsin’s transition defense.
Wisconsin would be smart to put Khalil Iverson on Bridges on defense, and feed Happ as much as possible on the offensive end, hopefully to open up some shooting from deep with guys like Brevin Pritzl out there, as Wisconsin will likely be playing from behind. Happ and freshman Nate Reuvers will have to play big for the Badgers to have any chance at winning this one, which is possible if they slow down the game against the Spartans.