The Iowa Hawkeyes (17-10, 9-7) are Madison, WI to take on the dreaded Wisconsin Badgers (15-11, 7-9) to try to rectify an early season loss.

Wisconsin is ... underwhelming.

Wretched & slow offense which hasn’t produced more than 69 points in a conference game that hasn’t gone to overtime. Everything they do is to dictate tempo including aggressively low offensive rebounding rate despite having size inside. This allows them to get back on defense on the occasion they miss shots and boy do they miss a lot of them. 44.9% from 2 (worst in the league) and a surprising 65.9% from the charity stripe.

Three point shooting is what keeps this offense afloat as 39.8% of their points come from deep. Chucky Hepburn, Connor Essegian, and Max Klesmit are all capable.

Defensively, they’re amongst the slowest in the nation but, surprisingly are just 7th on that end of the floor in conference play. 43.3% of opponent shots are assisted so if Iowa is patient, they can find the open man and hopefully hit enough shots. Wisconsin, for what it’s worth, is forcing the third highest turnover rate in Big Ten play.

Fran McCaffery is probably going to want to try and control the pace but my advice is the same as Phil Dunphy’s...”slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” The Hawkeyes shouldn’t try and speed up the tempo by finding microseconds here and there with a quicker shot which has a less chance of going in. They need to make shots which allows them to set their press and force quick decisions from the Badgers.

And, oh yeah. Iowa has Kris Murray & Ahron Ulis this time around. One would figure that’ll help.

Below are some additional details on Wisconsin, and how to watch.

About the Badgers

Season averages: Team / Opponent

PPG: 64.7 / 63.2
RPG: 31.2 / 35.7
APG: 12.1 / 10.2
TOPG: 8.7 / 12.1
FG%: 41.1% / 44.1%
3P%: 35.9% / 33.5%

Coach:

Greg Gard: 8th season at Wisconsin, 8th overall
Record: 159-89 (.641) overall

Statistical Leaders:

PPG: Chucky Hepbern 12.5, Steven Crowl 11.7
RPG: Crowl 7.3 (1.4 ORPG) Tyler Wahl 5.8 (1.3 ORPG)
APG: Crowl 2.8; Hepburn 2.8
FG%: Crowl 48.6%, Carter Gilmore 43.7%
3P%: Hepburn 44.1%, Essegian 40.3%

Presumed starters ($) & 2022-23 stats:

G - #23 Chucky Hepburn, So, 6’2”, 205 lbs: 12.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.8 APG, 38.1% FG, 44.1% 3P, 32.5 MPG
G - #11 Max Klesmit, Jr, 6’3”, 200 lbs: 7.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 40.3% FG, 36.4% 3P, 31.5 MPG
G - #3 Connor Essegian, Fr, 6’4”, 185 lbs: 11.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 41.6% FG, 40.3% 3P, 26.7 MPG
F - #5 Tyler Wahl, Sr, 6’9”, 225 lbs: 11.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.5 APG, 40.5% FG, 31.0 MPG
F - #22 Steven Crowl, Jr, 7’0”, 245 lbs: 11.7 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.8 APG, 48.6% FG, 27.8% 3P, 31.0 MPG

Last 5 games:

L - v Rutgers, 58-57 (2/18)
W - v Michigan, 64-59 (2/14)
L - at Nebraska, 73-63 OT (2/11)
W - at Penn State, 79-74 OT (2/8)
L - v Northwestern, 54-52 (2/5)

2023 KenPom: ($)

AdjEfficiency: +11.28 (70)
AdjOffense: 106.0 (155)
AdjDefense: 94.8 (28)
AdjTempo: 63.2 (350)

2022:

AdjEfficiency: +15.34 (37)
AdjOffense: 109.4 (62)
AdjDefense: 94.0 (34)
AdjTempo: 66.5 (215)

NET: 78

Bart Torvik: 72

Evan Miyakawa: 74

How to Watch

Date: Wednesday, February 22nd
Time: 8:00pm CT, after Minnesota at Maryland
Opponent: Wisconsin Badgers (15-11, 7-9); Big Ten Conference; Madison, WI
Location: Kohl Center; Madison, WI
Radio: Hawkeye Sports Network (Gary Dolphin & Bob Hansen)
TV: Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler & Robbie Hummel)
Streaming: FOX Sports Live