What to expect from Wisconsin vs. Indiana

Fresh off of their road win in Evanston, the Wisconsin Badgers will head to Bloomington for a Tuesday night conference contest against the struggling Indiana Hoosiers.

Indiana (13-14, 4-12 Big Ten) recently lost a 76-70 overtime heartbreaker to Iowa on Feb. 22, one that elicted this “detailed” response from SB Nation cousin Crimson Quarry. Archie Miller’s squad, despite having talented standouts Romeo Langford and Juwan Morgan, have lost five straight and 12 of its last 13 games heading into the matchup against Wisconsin (19-8, 11-5). The only win in that span was an overtime road victory against a top-10 Michigan State team on Feb. 2.

On that note, Alex Robbins wrote last week about the state of the basketball program and how it could get even worse.

In any case, this is the Big Ten—where for the most part, you cannot take any team lightly. A win for Wisconsin over Indiana on Tuesday night (8 p.m. CT, ESPN) would place the Badgers in a tie for fourth place with Maryland in the conference standings while also holding off Iowa (21-6, 10-6). Sitting one game behind UW currently, the Hawkeyes take on Ohio State (17-10, 7-9) just a couple hours earlier on Tuesday evening (6 p.m. CT, BTN).

Indiana leads the all-time series 95-74, and Wisconsin holds just a 28-53 record when playing in Bloomington. However, the Badgers have won five straight against the Hoosiers since late January 2016 and 19 of the past 21 meetings dating back to Jan. 31, 2008.

Indiana team stats

• Points per game: 70.2
• Opponents’ points per game: 67.0
• Field goal percentage: 45.9 (fifth in conference)
• Opponent field goal percentage: 41.8
• Three-point percentage: 30.8 (last in conference)
• Opponent three-point percentage: 32.4
• Free throw percentage: 65.5 (12th in conference; Wisconsin is 13th at 65.4)
• Turnovers per game: 13.1
• Opponents turnovers per game: 12.7
• Blocks per game: 4.6 (third in conference)
• NCAA NET ranking: 57

Key KenPom.com stats (Updated as of Feb. 25)

• Team rank: 49
• Adjusted offensive efficiency: 107.1 (113th in nation)
• Adjusted defensive efficiency: 94.0 (26th in nation)
• Effective field goal percentage (defense): 48.0 (53rd in nation)
• Offensive rebound percentage (defense): 27.8 (194th in nation)
• Free throws attempted/field goals attempted (offense): 35.2 (127th in nation)
• Free throws attempted/field goals attempted (defense): 27.4 (39th in nation)
• Block percentage (defense): 12.6 (35th in nation)

Potential Indiana playmakers

• Freshman guard Romeo Langford: 17.0 points per game (sixth in conference); 5.3 rebounds per game; shooting 45.8 percent overall; 73.1 free throw shooter
• Senior forward Juwan Morgan: 15.1 points per game; 8.0 rebounds per game (tied for fifth in conference); shooting 55.6 percent overall from the field (tied for seventh in the conference)
• Sophomore forward Justin Smith: 7.9 points per game; 4.4 rebounds per game; shooting 50.3 percent overall from the field; 51.8 percent free throw shooter
• Sophomore guard Aljami Durham: 7.8 points per game; 2.0 rebounds per game