Cagers to face Badger big boys

Dick Bennett has a habit, a penchant for turning perennially bad Wisconsin college basketball teams into NCAA tournament contenders.

To Bennett, rebuilding teams is not hard work, but rather something he enjoys.

"I think rebuilding is easy," he said. "It's the fun part, and I feel really good about how things have gone."

And for the Badgers things have gone very well lately. They are currently tied for second place in the Big Ten and riding a four-game winning streak. For most of the Big Ten, this is not a good time to be facing Bennett and his troops, but that is just what Penn State will have to do at 8 tonight in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Against the Nittany Lions (9-13, 2-11 Big Ten), the Badgers (15-7, 8-5) will be looking to win their fifth straight, something they haven't done since 1962. In fact that Wisconsin team was the last -- until this year -- to have a winning record after 13 Big Ten games.

Even though the Badgers' winning ways have been a surprise this year, Penn State coach Jerry Dunn knows the kind of talent the Badgers have.

"They've got a lot of weapons, and they can come at you in several different ways," he said. "They are very solid defensively, especially their interior defense."

The Badgers' defense is a big reason they are currently doing so well. They are in the top five in every defensive category in the Big Ten. Their size up front has also helped them defensively. And Bennett knows his frontcourt of 7-foot center Paul Grant, 6-foot-10 forward Sean Daugherty and 6-foot-7 Sam Okey has given his team a defensive edge.

"The size is a factor. I think we are bigger on the baseline," he said. "The fact that we are bigger we can bother more shots."

So Bennett has tried to utilize his team's size inside by stressing interior defense. He said he has made his inside players realize they must get in front of their opponents down low. If they don't, he said he has pulled them for a short rest on the bench.

And in the last four games the Badgers' defense has helped them beat some of the Big Ten's better teams. During their current run they have beaten nationally ranked Michigan, Illinois and Purdue.

As for Penn State it knows all too well what Wisconsin's defense can do. In the teams' last meeting in Madison, Wis., the Badgers held the Lions to 45 points, their lowest output of the Big Ten season. They also held the Lions to a 26 percent shooting percentage, also a conference low.

"I think the biggest thing when we faced them the last time we struggled early on with turnovers," Dunn said.

Dunn knows his team must be aware of the Badgers' height if it wants to have a chance to win. He said Daugherty and Grant have played extremely well, and the Lions' interior defense will have to be up to the challenge.

On offense, the Lions will look to Pete Lisicky, who is averaging 17.2 points per game, to get them going. He is coming off a 22-point performance against Northwestern, but tonight he will have some help. Dunn said Jarrett Stephens will be available after missing the last game to attend his aunt's funeral.

The last time these teams met, the Lions were embarrassed by the Badgers and played one of their worst games as the season. As for whether or not Dunn will use that as motivation, he simply said, "We will watch the tape again."