NCAAB Game Preview - Michigan State at Wisconsin

Sat Feb 1, 2020 1:00 PM EST

Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said he's confident his team will remain strong despite some surprising developments that popped up for the Badgers this week.

Kobe King, the team's second-leading scorer, announced on Instagram that he will transfer out of the program. King posted his statement two days after he didn't travel with the team for its game at Iowa.

To further complicate matters, the Big Ten Conference dealt a suspension to Brad Davison for one game for a flagrant-1 foul that he committed during Wisconsin's loss at No. 18 Iowa on Monday night. Davison won't play for the Badgers (12-9, 5-5) against No. 14 Michigan State (16-5, 8-2) in a conference matchup on Saturday.

Davison also was penalized for violating the league's sportsmanship policy.

"You go through a season one day at a time, and you keep trying to get better every day," Gard said on Thursday afternoon. "That's why sports are such a great teacher of life, because you have to go through ups and downs, and adversity."

Point guard D'Mitrik Trice said King's frustration was obvious on Jan. 24 during the Badgers' 70-51 loss at Purdue. King didn't score in 27 minutes, and had four assists, two rebounds and two turnovers.

Trice had a discussion with King, who was upset following the setback, but said the Badgers were shocked with King's decision to take a leave of absence the next day.

"You could see some frustration, especially during the Purdue game," Trice said. "You could physically see that. He was kind of physically crying, and tears were coming down his face during halftime, and even after the game.

"Everybody was shocked and a little bit confused. ... At the end of the day, it was really his decision."

Meanwhile, the Spartans are fresh off a 79-50 rout of Northwestern on Wednesday. Cassius Winston scored 18 points and Xavier Tillman added 12.

Michigan State aims to sweep the regular-season series between the teams, after posting a 67-55 win over visiting Wisconsin on Jan. 17 at the Breslin Center. Tillman scored 15 in the Spartans win, and Nate Reuvers scored a game-high 19 points for the Badgers.

Coach Tom Izzo said he wasn't satisfied with Michigan State's performance against Northwestern, despite the big win.

"I wasn't happy with our consistency, I guess that's the biggest thing," Izzo told the Detroit Free Press. "My headline would be 'consistency' with a question mark. And you know what? You can get away with that against certain teams. You're probably not gonna get away with that on the road anywhere in this league.

"And if you look at the teams we got coming up now, there aren't gonna be many nights off here in the next 10 games."

--Field Level Media