Wisconsin Hosts Delaware State Tonight
November 21, 2006 | Men's Basketball
The seventh-ranked Wisconsin men's basketball team (3-0) hosts Delaware State (1-3) in the second game of the 2006 South Padre Invitational tonight at 7 p.m. in the Kohl Center.
As part of the tournament, four teams (UW, Missouri State, Auburn and Oklahoma State) each get two home games. The tournament continues Nov. 24-25 in South Padre Island, Texas. Wisconsin is scheduled to play Missouri State at 11 a.m. Friday.
Tonight marks the first of four games the Badgers will play over the next eight days. On the other side, Delaware State is playing its fourth game in the past eight days tonight in Madison.
These two teams are meeting for the first time, but share five common opponents this season: Pitt, Missouri State, Marquette, Purdue and Michigan. Missouri State beat Delaware State 77-54 on Sunday.
The Hornets won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular season title by four games last season, but lost to Hampton in the championship game of the league tournament and settled for the NIT.
Delaware State returns four senior starters and is a unanimous pick to win the MEAC for the third consecutive year. Guard Jahsha Bluntt is the league's Preseason Player of the Year after leading his team in points (14.6 ppg.) and rebounds (4.8 rpg.) last season. Point guard Darrin Shine led the team in assists (156) and averaged 8.2 points per game.
The Badgers are coming off their second-largest margin of victory in school history, beating Southern 92-39. Wisconsin has held halftime leads of 14, 16 and 31 points through three games and has yet to trail in the second half.
Seniors Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor lead Wisconsin with 18.3 and 14.0 points per game, respectively. Eleven of head coach Bo Ryan's 14 players are averaging nine minutes per game or more.
UW is 75-5 at the Kohl Center over the last five seasons. That is the fifth-best mark in the country.
