Gophers seek .500 record against defensive-minded Wisconsin

Playing Wisconsin’s men’s basketball team is a simple but frustrating task.

The Badgers’ agenda on the court is clear — slow play to a snail’s pace and try to win with a stifling halfcourt defense.

Often, that makes the opposing team’s strategy just as clear: Push the pace, create transition offense and try to avoid playing in halfcourt sets.

For the Gophers (5-6), who play the Badgers (7-4) on Thursday in the teams’ only meeting this season, playing fast has been a recipe for success throughout 2011-12.

In Sunday’s 69-61 win against Nebraska, Minnesota succumbed to the Huskers’ slow pace for three-fourths of the game minutes before scoring 30 points in the last 12 minutes.

“We had quick outlets, got a lot of fast-break points,” freshman Elliott Eliason said. “[We didn’t] quite set the tempo early.”

Leading the Gophers’ late charge was the play of their guards — most notably Chip Armelin, who scored 10 of his 15 points in the last 8:01, most of them in transition.

“The style of game is critical for [Armelin],” head coach Tubby Smith said. “When you’re playing up and down, he really has a tendency to shine. And when he’s making his [3-pointers] like he’s doing, he’s pretty effective, because he can put it on the floor and take it to the basket.”

Armelin is the primary scorer on a second unit that has excelled in recent wins. Minnesota’s bench outscored Nebraska’s 40-7 in Sunday’s win and outscored Illinois’ 39-9 in the Gophers’ last home win, a 77-72 double-overtime victory Jan. 28.

“I’m very pleased with all of those guys that are coming in,” Smith said of his bench players. “They’re pretty competitive in practice, and there’s not a big gap in the talent level that’s starting and coming off the bench. That’s why they are so effective.”

Smith has often been criticized for the way he uses his bench — substituting five players in at once — but lately, that approach has worked, as Minnesota has won five of its last seven games after starting the conference season 0-4.

“We like to run. Sometimes we get tired and [Smith] is just trying to rotate people in so we can have fresh legs running the floor,” sophomore guard Austin Hollins said.

For both of the Gophers’ units, guard play has been essential. With Trevor Mbakwe out for the season and Rodney Williams and Ralph Sampson III struggling, Minnesota has been forced to rely on its guards to generate offense.

But even with Minnesota’s backcourt in charge, it remains anyone’s guess which of the team’s guards will bring his A-game to the floor.

Armelin has scored 12 or more points three times in conference play, but he has been held to seven or fewer points in the other six Big Ten games.

Starting shooting guard Joe Coleman has been held scoreless in consecutive games after scoring 81 points in his last six games.

Starter Austin Hollins has scored in double figures in five of his last seven games — but in the other two games, he combined to score three points on 1-for-7 shooting.

Point guards Julian Welch, Andre Hollins and Maverick Ahanmisi have been inconsistent as well, although all three have shot the ball well from 3-point range.

Outside opportunities against Wisconsin may be limited. The Badgers rank atop the Big Ten in 3-point field goal defense at .262, and they have allowed 59 fewer 3-pointers than any other team in the conference.

Wisconsin also ranks first in scoring defense with 49.8 points allowed per game — 6.8 points fewer than any other Big Ten school. Only one Badgers opponent this year — Iowa on Dec. 31 — has scored more than 70 points against them.

A big reason for Wisconsin’s success on defense is its ability to control the ball on offense. The Badgers average the fewest turnovers in the Big Ten at 8.8. They also average the fewest turnovers forced per game at 11.1.

Wisconsin saw its six-game winning streak end in its last game, a 58-52 home loss to conference leader Ohio State.

But the Badgers are a much-improved team from the one that lost three of four games to start the conference season.

“They got back to playing their style of basketball,” Smith said. “They’re the best in the country at taking care of the ball. They don’t turn it over.”

Minnesota native Jordan Taylor leads Wisconsin in points (14.0 per game), assists (4.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.0).

Taylor has scored in double figures in 14 consecutive games and has averaged 16.1 points during conference play.

“The way he goes is the way [the Badgers] go,” Smith said of Taylor. “If he’s off his game, then they’re going to be a bit off their game.”

NCAA tournament hopes remain in the air

Smith said he doesn’t pay much attention to NCAA tournament bracket predictions this time of year, but his team is very much on the bubble.

The Gophers will likely need two more quality wins — and no more bad losses — to punch their ticket to the Big Dance.

For now, it appears they’re on the outside looking in.

“I don't like where we sit,” Smith said. “I don't like that we’re an under-.500 team.

“We’re a team that’s got to do a lot of work,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of things that we’ve got to accomplish before the end of the season if we want to play any postseason play.”