UW GOES FOR FOUR IN A ROW AT ILLINOIS
Winners of 3 straight, the Badgers travel to Illinois on Sunday, Jan. 31. UW has won the last 8 meetings with the Illini, including 3 in a row in Champaign.
    Up next, UW will host Ohio State on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. on ESPN before entertaining Nebraska on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. on BTN.

NOTES TO KNOW
1 TURNING THE CORNER: After suffering 4 Big Ten losses by an average of 3.8 points, UW has started winning the close games. Overall, the Badgers have played a total of 8 games decided by 3 points or less, the most in the nation.
2 PLAYING THE BEST: According to ESPN.com, Wisconsin has faced the 6th-toughest schedule in the nation. UW has 6 top-100 RPI wins, trialing only Iowa (7) and Michigan State (7) among Big Ten teams.
3 CHANGING OF THE GARD: The Badgers are 5-4 since Greg Gard assumed the head coaching duties on Dec. 15. Over that span, Wisconsin is shooting 45.1% (35.9% 3FGs) under Gard after hitting on just 41.2% (32.9%) in the 12 contests prior to him taking over. UW is averaging 75.0 ppg over its current 3-game win streak.
4 HAYES-ING: Preseason All-Big Ten pick Nigel Hayes is 1 of just 2 players in the Big Ten averaging at least 16.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg and 3.5 apg. He is 5th in the Big Ten in scoring at 17.0 ppg but has averaged 23.7 ppg over the last 3.
5 TAKING WHAT'S FREE: UW ranks 2nd in the Big Ten, averaging 22.4 FTAs per game. Over the last 3 games, the Badgers have taken it to another level averaging 36.0 FTAs per game. Nigel Hayes is 30-for-39 over that stretch.
6 HAPP PUSHING FOR FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: A two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, Ethan Happ is starting to make his claim as the Big Ten's top rookie. Off a career-high 25 points vs. Indiana, Happ leads the Big Ten in doubles-doubles (7), ranks 3rd among freshman in scoring (12.6 ppg) and second in rebounding (8.3 rpg).
7 ANOTHER TOP-5 TAKEDOWN: Including the win over No. 4 MSU, UW has won 7 of its last 10 games vs. the AP top 5 dating back to 2013. During that span, no other Big Ten team has a winning record or more than five top-5 wins.
8 KOENIG HEATING UP: Bronson Koenig ranks 2nd on the Badgers averaging 13.5 ppg, shooting 38.0% from 3-point range. The junior guard has hit a triple in 32 consecutive games, the 5th-longest streak in the country.
9 THAT 70S SHOW: Wisconsin has won 29 consecutive games when scoring at least 70 points.

SERIES VS. ILLINOIS
Sunday marks the 194th meeting between UW and Illinois in a series dating back to 1906. The Illini lead the all-time series 110-83, including a mark of 68-24 in Champaign.
- Wisconsin has won 8 straight over Illinois, the team's longest-ever win streak vs. the Illini. That includes a 3 consecutive wins in Champaign. After UW's 8-game win streak, the Big Ten's next-longest active win streak over Illinois is OSU (5).
- Dating back to 2007, UW has won 15 of the last 19 meetings with Illinois. The Badgers have won 6 of 8 in Champaign, Ill. during that stretch.
- The Badgers have won 3 straight at Illinois for the fi rst time since earning victories in its fi rst 3 trips to Illinois, winning in 1906, 1907 and 1908. UW has never won 4 straight in Champaign.
- Dating back to 2007, UW has won 15 of the last 19 meetings with Illinois.
- Illinois will make a return trip to Madison later this season on Feb. 21.
- Reaching 60 points has been an incredible indicator in this series. The fi rst team to score 60 points is 26-1 over the last 13 seasons. The only loss was UW's 71-64 comeback win on 1/20/07 (ILL led 60-57 with 5:07 left). ?? Wisconsin has held Illinois to 70 or fewer points in each of the last 21 matchups.
- UW has 2 players from the state of Illinois: redshirt freshman Ethan Happ (Milan) and true freshman Jackson Bax (Frankfort).

NOTES FROM UW'S LAST GAME
UW 85, IND 79 (OT) - 1/26/16 - Kohl Center
- Wisconsin won its third-straight game with an 82-79 overtime thriller at the Kohl Center Tuesday night. Nigel Hayes and Ethan Happ combined for 56 points to carry the Badgers.
- The Badgers trailed 2 on two separate occassions in the final 1:13, but each time Hayes drained a pair of free throws to force overtime. Hayes would go 10-for-10 at the FT line in the final 45 seconds of regular and overtime. UW would hold IU to just 2-for-10 shooting the extra session.
- UW attempted a season-high 37 free throws, connecting on 28 of them. Hayes tied the UW singlegame record for made free throws, going 17-for-22 from the charity stripe.
- Hayes finished with 31 points, one shy of his career high. He also tallied 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 42 minutes.
- Happ registered a career-high 25 points and a game-high 8 rebounds. He also blocked 2 shots and posted a career-high 4 steals.
- Sophomore Jordan Hill enjoyed a career night, topping his personal best with 13 points (5-5 FGs, 2-2 3FGs) in 32 minutes of action.
- The Badgers shot 52.1% from the field, their second-best mark of the Big Ten season.

PARALLELS TO 2002?
Prior to Sunday's win over MSU, the Badgers owned a .500 record (9-9) with 13 Big Ten games remaining. The last time Wisconsin owned a .500 record in January came in 2002, Bo Ryan's fi rst season in Madison, when UW was also 8-8 with 13 Big Ten games left.
    Like they hope will happen this season, the 2002 Badgers jump-started their season by knocking off No. 25 Michigan State (64-63) to climb above .500. UW would go on to win 10 of it's fi nal 13 games and claim a share of the 2002 Big Ten Championship.

STRENGTH IN SCHEDULING 
- According to ESPN.com RPI rankings, UW has faced the 6th-toughest schedule in the NCAA and the highest among Big Ten teams.
- From an RPI standpoint, the Badgers faced one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the Big Ten. A total of 9 of UW's 13 non-con games came against RPI top-150 foes. Among Big Ten team, only Illinois (10) faced more top-150 teams.
- The Badgers' 5 home losses have come by a combined 14 points (2.8 avg.). In each of the defeats, UW was either tied or within one score in the final 2:00. In fact, the Badgers had a game-winning/tying shot attempt in the closing seconds of 3 of the losses.

2015-16 TEAM INFO
Starters Returning/Lost: 2/3 | Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 9/5
- Wisconsin looks to replace five of the top seven scorers from a year ago, but does return a pair of starters in juniors Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig. Overall, the Badgers bring back 38.1% of their minutes played from last season. UW will bring back 34.3% of its scoring, 31.5% of its rebounding and 40.5% of their assists.
- The 2015-16 season will mark the first year under Bo Ryan in which the Badgers do not have a scholarship senior. The only senior on the roster is walk-on guard Jordan Smith. Wisconsin has had at least one senior starter in each of Ryan's first 14 seasons in Madison. In fact, the Badgers have started at least two seniors in 10 of those 14 seasons.
- UW returns four players from last season's nine-man rotation:

FRONTCOURT
Nigel Hayes, Jr., F (12.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg) - Third-team All-Big Ten; 9th in Big Ten shooting 49.7% overall and 3rd on UW shooting 39.6% from 3s; 4 career double-doubles
Vitto Brown, Jr., F (2.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg) - Played in 34 games as a soph. averaging 6.3 mpg

BACKCOURT
Bronson Koenig, Jr., G (8.7 ppg, 2.5 apg) - Started final 24 games; 4th on the team in points and 2nd in assists; 2nd on team shooting 40.5% on 3s; 3.0 assist-to-TO Ratio
Zak Showalter, Jr., G (2.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg) - Redshirt junior averaged 7.6 minutes off the bench; career-high 9 points vs. Indiana (Feb. 3, 2015)
- The Badgers will gain the services of redshirt freshmen Ethan Happ and T.J. Schlundt in 2014- 15, who both redshirted in their first year on campus. UW will also add five true freshmen to their roster in 2015-16, Alex Illikainen (Grand Rapids, Minn.), Khalil Iverson (Delaware, Ohio), Brevin Pritzl (De Pere, Wis.), Charlie Thomas (Highland, Md.), Andy Van Vliet (Brasschaat, Belgium).

ALL-BIG TEN DUO: HAYES, KOENIG
A pair of Badgers were named to the 2015-16 Preseason All-Big Ten Team, as Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig were each selected by a vote of the league's media. This is the second consecutive season Wisconsin has had a pair selected to the conference's preseason team as Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker earned the distinction last year.
- Hayes and Koenig were also named to watch lists for the Julius Erving Award and Bob Cousy Award, respectively, as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Each watch list contains the top 20 players at its position, as the Julius Erving Award recognizes the top small forward in the nation and the Bob Cousy Award recognizes the top point guard in the country.
Dekker was a finalist for the Erving Award last season. Jordan Taylor (2012) was UW's last finalist for the Cousy Award.
- Junior Nigel Hayes was named a preseason All-American by The Sporting News and finished 9th in the AP preseason All-American balloting.

YOUTH BEING SERVED
The 2015-16 Badgers are the youngest in now retired head coach Bo Ryan's 15 seasons. No school in the country has more freshmen on its roster than Wisconsin (8). Cornell and UTEP are the only other schools with 8 freshmen.
- Redshirt freshman Ethan Happ became just the 3rd freshman to start the season opener under Bo Ryan, joining Devin Harris (2001) and George Marshall (2012).
- True freshmen Khalil Iverson and Charlie Thomas have each seen extensive action off the Badgers' bench.
- UW's other scholarship freshmen Alex Illikainen and Brevin Pritzl made their debuts vs. Siena. Illikainen chipped in 6 points in 7 minutes. Andy Van Vliet (ineligible) has yet to see action.