Greg Gard shares expectations for Iowa game

The Wisconsin Badgers will try to keep their tournament hopes alive on Wednesday when they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa is coming in fresh from a loss to Northwestern on Sunday and will be looking to bounce back to remain in the tournament hunt. As the Badgers prepare for the game, head coach Greg Gard shares his expectations for the matchup.

“Well, they’re talented. I mean, we saw that back in December, and Chris Murray was hurt at that time,” said Gard. “But I’ve been impressed, obviously, with Chris as a really talented player, but just watching over the last two days, Tony Perkins has really improved. I think Rebraca has had a really good year, and it’s good to see Patrick back after taking a leave for a while. So it’s a team that can score a lot of points; a lot of shooters on the floor. But like I said, I’ve been impressed with Tony Perkins in terms of his development and how he’s been very consistent for the most part. And obviously, Chris is a very talented individual too.”

The last time Wisconsin took on Iowa was back in December. The Badgers were able to scrape by with a 78-75 victory on the road. And as Gard said, projected lottery pick, power forward Chris Murray, did not play in the game, which was to the Badgers’ benefit.

Similar to the first time these two teams faced off, Wisconsin will be in for a brawl. Fortunately, the Badgers will have the homecourt advantage this time as the two schools will square off in Wisconsin’s home arena, the Kohl Center.

Gard focusing on the present, tuning out NCAA Tournament bubble talk

Wisconsin men’s basketball is comfortably on the NCAA Tournament bubble with just a few weeks left prior to Selection Sunday. For head coach Greg Gard, the best way for his team to play itself off the bubble is to not think about it.

Acknowledging that he was delivering some coach speak after the Badgers gutted out a 5-point home win against Michigan, Gard emphasized that Wisconsin needs to just focus on the next day and game on the schedule. That mindset is needed now, and frankly all year, Gard said.

“I’m more concerned about playing good basketball right now. Because if you don’t play good basketball right now, down the road ain’t going to happen. And I don’t care if it’s November, December, January, February, you — and every team goes through rough patches and this group has gone through their share, but just the next day. And it sounds cliche, and I’m sitting up here and it’s coach speak, but we’ll look through the film, they’ll learn from it on Thursday,” Gard said. “We’ll use those two days and then it’s — and they understand. I’m not, probably, telling them anything after a loss or after a win that they don’t know. Players usually get this figured out even before coaches do.”