Wisconsin Hosts Winthrop Tonight at 7 p.m.
December 04, 2006 | Men's Basketball
The 11th-ranked Wisconsin men's basketball team hosts Winthrop tonight in the finale of a three-game home stand for the Badgers. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. ESPN 360 will broadcast the game with Jeff Friedman and Paul Biancardi calling the action.
Winthrop (6-2) is the first of five consecutive Badger opponents that made the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Games against Marquette, UW-Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Pacific are included.
The Eagles have earned six NCAA tournament appearances since 1999, but have yet to pick up a victory. They enter tonight's contest winners of three in a row since falling at Maryland 71-60. Winthrop's other loss this season was a seven-point defeat against then-No. 2 North Carolina.
Wisconsin and Winthop are both coming off wins on Sunday. The Badgers (7-1) beat Florida International 79-63 in Madison, while the Eagles beat Northern Illinois on the road 72-62. Tonight marks the first meeting between the two schools.
Both teams have high point differentials, a low turnover count and a deep bench. Both feature their respective leagues Preseason Player of the Year. Wisconsin shoots better from the field (48.7 percent), but Winthrop is averaging over eight 3-pointers per game. The Badgers made a season-high nine 3's Sunday against FIU.
Torrell Martin, the Big South Preseason POY, is coming off a 22-point outing against Northern Illinois and is averaging 15.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Alando Tucker, the Big Ten Preseason POY, had a season-low 10 points against FIU and currently ranks second in the league at 19.1 points per game.
(Carl Landry, the brother of current Badger Marcus Landry, currently leads the Big Ten with 19.3 ppg.)
Badger guard Kammron Taylor was 7-of-8 from 3-point range in two games last week. He leads the Big Ten in 3-point shooting at 59.1 percent (13-of-22). Michael Jenkins leads Winthrop with 26 treys this season and is second on the team in scoring at 14.5 points per game.
UW has won nine consecutive games at home dating back to last season and has won its last three games since losing to Missouri State. Wisconsin is 78-5 at the Kohl Center under Ryan and 3-0 against teams currently in the Big South Conference.
