Big Ten race will be heating up
MADISON – Tuesday could be moving day in the Big Ten men’s basketball race.
The top five teams in the standings are scheduled to play, with four facing other contenders.
Purdue (17-6, 10-2 Big Ten) kicks off the night at Maryland (18-6, 9-4), with tip set for 5:30 p.m. on BTN.
Wisconsin (17-7, 9-4), which is two games out of first, hosts Michigan State (10-3, 19-5) at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
First-place Michigan (22-2, 11-2) plays at Penn State (8-15, 1-11) at 7:30 on BTN.
UW, which suffered a nine-point loss Saturday at Michigan, needs a victory over Michigan State and help from Maryland and Penn State.
“Anytime you lose you make things more difficult on yourself,” UW’s Brad Davison said after the loss to Michigan. “But at the same time, I don’t think anybody thought we’d have a chance six, seven games ago.
“With where we’re at, we’re going to control what we can control. And we’re extremely thankful to have the opportunity to bounce back Tuesday against a really good Michigan State team and start another streak. The goal is to be playing your best ball going into March.
“We obviously have a lot of things to work on still, but we’re in a good place. We should be confident still.”
Purdue — which won its lone meeting with UW, lost its only meeting with Michigan and split with Michigan State — has the easiest remaining schedule among the contenders.
The Boilermakers have five road games and only three at home, but their only game against a team with a winning record in league play is Tuesday at Maryland.
UW has four home games and three on the road and plays two teams with winning marks in league play — Michigan State and Iowa (19-5, 8-5). Both teams visit the Kohl Center.
UW closes the regular season at Ohio State (16-7, 6-6), which has won three consecutive games.
Michigan has the most daunting closing schedule. The Wolverines play Michigan State twice and Maryland twice.
“You saw how good Michigan is,” Ethan Happ said after the loss to Michigan. “They’re most likely not going to lose a lot more. We’ve got to come ready to play Tuesday.”
Lengthy wait is over for Trice
Last season was trying for guard D’Mitrik Trice, who missed all but 10 games because of a foot injury.
Missing all three games against Michigan State was especially painful because Trice’s brother, Travis, played for the Spartans. And because two of the losses came by five and three points, respectively.
Travis Trice averaged 15.3 points per game as a senior in 2014-’15 and helped the Spartans reach the Final Four in Indianapolis.
“It was definitely challenging,” D’Mitrik Trice said of watching the three losses. “I love the Breslin Center. I love going there. Just missing games… to play against them, it hurt me a lot.
“They had a really good team and we were right there (twice).”
Trice faced Michigan State once as a freshman in the 2016-’17 season. He scored five points and grabbed three rebounds in an 84-74 loss in East Lansing.
His family, including his older brother, plans to be at the Kohl Center on Tuesday.
“He said he is going to wear neutral colors,” Trice said of his brother, who plays for the Austin Spurs of the NBA G League. “I’m not sure what it is going to be.”
Overtime
The Badgers are tied with Michigan for the No. 1 mark in the nation for fewest turnovers per game (9.2). UW suffered 17 turnovers Jan. 23 at Illinois but in the five games since has committed 7, 7, 4, 6 and 7. That is a total of 31 turnovers in five games, or 6.2 per game. …
UW slipped four spots to No. 23 on Monday in the USA Today top 25 poll.