Rebels face tough environment at No. 14 Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis.

It's not just the building. The Kohl Center opened in 1998 and sits on the southeast side of campus, a jump shot from a student recreational center best described as massive and a few blocks from State Street, where 100,000 or so lunatics have been known to gather on Halloween and consume enough alcohol to fill Lake Mendota.

It seats 17,230 for basketball and sold out 143 straight games until Wednesday, when Wisconsin-Green Bay visited and 154 or so folks apparently chose to instead enjoy a night outside in the warm holiday weather, because it's not going to be 20 degrees for much longer.

It's not just the players, who for the most part are WALL-E with outstanding skill, robotic in their approach and yet highly successful executing it.

It's not just the coaching, though a 157-12 home record the last 11 seasons sort of proves coach Bo Ryan has more than a clue when it comes to Xs and Os and BOs (block-outs).

It's not just the loud and wacky student section, which extends from the floor to the roof and is known as the Grateful Red, complete with tie-dyed shirts.

It's not just the tempo, which can be painstakingly slow.

It's all of it.

"I don't know if I can see the other team getting frustrated by (the environment), but I can sense it," Wisconsin sophomore guard Ben Brust said. "Good fans. Good players. Good coaching. It usually makes for something good for us."

UNLV has a schedule dotted with difficult nonconference challenges, and there won't be any tougher than the one today, when the Rebels play a 14th-ranked Wisconsin team that loses at home as often as the Badgers take consecutive bad shots, which is hardly ever.

Marquette won here last week, snapping Wisconsin's 23-game home win streak. The Badgers have won 43 straight here against unranked nonleague opponents, of which UNLV is.

They have lost only three such games since 2001.

"I don't know if we have anything different than anyone else," assistant coach Gary Close said. "I know we have great fans and they fill the place. We just play well here. We're comfortable here. I don't think it's anything UNLV hasn't been through before at places like BYU or San Diego State."

With one giant snowman's difference: The Cougars and Aztecs have no problem running with UNLV. The Badgers won't allow it.

More than anything else, Wisconsin's home-court advantage can be traced to one side of the court.

People look at scores and immediately assume the Badgers exist in a semi-constant stall offensively, that the reason opponents average a nation-low 44.2 points per game is because their possessions are limited from Wisconsin milking the shot clock over two halves. Yes and no.

Not enough credit is given to Wisconsin's defense, to the fact that even the best-coached teams get antsy against the Badgers and take bad shots.

There isn't a better secondary break in college basketball than the one North Carolina runs, and the Tar Heels managed just two fast-break baskets in beating Wisconsin 60-57 last week.

Two. In 40 minutes. In Chapel Hill.

"It's pretty tough to get up and down the court like teams want to against us if we are transitioning to defense well," Close said. "We're pretty deceptive. It's not that we won't take early shots on offense, but we won't take crazy shots early. That's just not to our advantage. I think the (scores) are far more an indication of how we defend. And if you want to be a really good team, you have to be able to play both (fast and slow)."

In beating an NAIA team Wednesday at Orleans Arena, UNLV scored 94 points. The Rebels average 83. They could struggle to reach 60 today.

Shot selection for those visiting the Kohl Center is more important than wearing a heavy jacket and gloves while strolling the streets here in December. The Rebels can't expect to shoot 35 percent on 3-pointers (their season average) and win, though it would be much better than the 23 percent to which Wisconsin limits opponents.

"I think our system wears most teams down," junior center Jared Berggren said. "We feed off the atmosphere at home, and it usually gives us that little extra sense of confidence to take teams out of their comfort zone. There is a lot of energy in the building."

It's not just that. Or the players. Or the coaching. Or the tempo. Or the tie-dyed shirts.

It's all of it.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.