Column: Kohl Center too much for IU

Remember when Wisconsin lost to IU, proceeded to lose four of its next five games and everybody in Madison, Wisc., was worried?

Me neither.

When IU (15-11, 5-8) travels to No. 14 Wisconsin (22-5, 9-5) for a 9 p.m. showdown on ESPN, the Hoosiers will be met by a raucous Kohl Center and a smokin’ hot Badger team.

Wisconsin has won five games straight, and it’s not like the Badgers have been playing the cupcakes of the Big Ten.

The Badgers knocked off then-No. 8 Michigan State. They are fresh off road victories against Michigan and Iowa, who were both ranked No. 15 at the time.

IU isn’t as good as any of those teams.

The last IU-Wisconsin matchup was a memorable one.

The Hoosiers beat then-undefeated and No. 3 Wisconsin.

Hoosier nation rushed the court, which outraged thousands of grayhaired 50-somethings who hate to watch college students have fun.

Assembly Hall was a fantastic atmosphere Jan. 14. For most of the game, my table on press row was literally shaking. Besides having a slight headache and almost spilling my water 5,000 times, it was an amazing experience.

Tonight, fans dressed in red will once again be a factor. Only, this time, it will be Badger nation making life difficult for IU.

IU recently took a baby step when it beat Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., last Saturday. It was the Hoosiers’ first road win in 42 days.

It was a baby step because legitimately half the crowd was wearing crimson. The 8,117 capacity Welsh-Ryan Arena felt like a pseudo-home game for IU.

But there will be far fewer Hoosier fans in the 17,230 capacity Kohl Center.

If you were playing the NCAA March Madness video game — which you can’t because the game isn’t produced anymore, but the point remains valid — the screen would be shaking violently the entire time when IU had the ball because of the ferocity of the Badger crowd.

If winning at Northwestern was a baby step for the program, winning at Wisconsin would be a giant lunge forward.

But this team isn’t ready.

Wisconsin is better. Plain and simple. Back on Jan. 13 after the Hoosiers barely won at Penn State, I wrote that this team wasn’t a NCAA tourney team.

And it isn’t. This year.

But the future could be bright for IU fans. These remaining five games — all against teams that have winning records in the Big Ten — will serve as public practices for what needs to be a bounce back into relevancy year next season.

I’m excited to see how this team responds to a hostile environment.

They fell flat on their faces against Purdue in a deafening Mackey Arena.

They hung tight against Michigan State in East
Lansing.

But this Wisconsin team is too good, and is on too much of a roll. They’re not letting the Hoosiers get in their way.

Prediction — Wisconsin 73, IU 57

Evan Hoopfer is 10-6 in predictions this year.

­ehoopfer@indiana.edu
@EvanHoopfer