The set-up: The 22-6 Wisconsin Badgers are 11-4 in Big Ten play and with Purdue losing Saturday at Michigan, have a chance to get back into a tie for first with a win Sunday at East Lansing. The Michigan State Spartans are 17-11 overall, including 9-6 in Big Ten play, as Tom Izzo looks to make it 20 straight NCAA appearances by his team with an at-large NCAA bid, that's assuming MSU doesn't surprise and win the Big Ten tourney.

Wisconsin: The Badgers enter this game losers of three of their last four but Purdue's loss last night should give them a spark. Losing Thursday at Ohio St. was obviously not good news but the silver lining was Bronson Koenig making 5 of 9 from three-point range, breaking out of a slump that had seen him go 8-of-36 from beyond the arc over his previous six games. He scored 27 points and ranks second on the team in scoring at 13.8 PPG to the 6-10 Happ (14.4 & 8.9). Happ leads the team in scoring (15.6 points), rebounding (8.3), assists (2.9), blocks (1.5) and steals (2.6) during conference play to make him the only player in the nation to top his team in all five categories in league action! The 6-8 Hayes was a preseason All-American but overall, has disappointed averaging 13.4 & 6.0.

Michigan State: The Spartans are coming off an 88-72 home win over Nebraska on Thursday, which has them within one-half game of a three-way tie for fourth in the Big Ten. Izzo lost senior guard Harris (10.7) for the season two games ago, so it's all up to a quartet of freshman to "bring it home" (meaning an NCAA bid) for the Spartans. It's quite a group, led by the 6-7 Bridges (16.3 & 8.3), who is joined by the 6-8 Ward (13.1 & 5.9), PG Winston (7.0 & 5.4 APG) and SG Langford (6.5). Langford has a season-high 17 points against Nebraska!

The pick: The Badgers seemed to be in cruise control at 21-3 but this team is struggling, while Izzos team' is in 'tournament mode.' Michigan State is an 8* play.