Wisconsin Basketball Coach Previews Top-20 Matchup

Madison, WI— The Wisconsin basketball team is set to finish a long stretch of road games. In eight games played since January 18th, Saturday marks UW's sixth game away from the Kohl Center.  This upcoming matchup might be the most consequential. 

The Badgers (19-5, 9-4 Big Ten) sit with little room for error in the conference standings. Currently in fourth place, head coach Greg Gard's squad has, so far, positioned itself for the last double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. The UCLA Bruins and Maryland Terrapins, both teams that have beaten Wisconsin in its current stretch of road games, are one loss behind UW. 

However, the Purdue Boilermakers (19-6, 11-3 Big Ten) have one fewer loss than the Badgers team it welcomes to West Lafayette on Saturday. A win by Matt Painter's Boilermakers could solidify a tier of the top three teams in the league alongside the Michigan Wolverines (19-5, 11-2 Big Ten) and Michigan State Spartans (19-5, 10-3 Big Ten). If Gard leads Wisconsin to only its second win in a decade over Purdue inside Mackey Arena, the race for the conference title will be broken wide open. 

Ahead of the matchup between two teams ranked in the top 20 of the AP Top 25, Gard addressed the media on Thursday to preview the upcoming contest.