Wisconsin-San Diego Preview

It hasn't been an easy start to the season for Wisconsin, and it was certainly a struggle for the 25th-ranked Badgers to reach the semifinals of the Paradise Jam.

It may get even more difficult on Sunday against upset-minded San Diego, with the winner earning a trip to the tournament final in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Coming off a 31-5 season that featured Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, Wisconsin opened the 2008-09 campaign in the Top 25 and has stayed there with three straight victories.

But the Badgers (3-0), who lost leading scorer Brian Butch and top defender Michael Flowers to graduation, were hardly convincing in a 68-61 home win over Long Beach State last Sunday. They blew out Division II Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Tuesday, but coach Bo Ryan's club needed overtime to beat Iona 60-58 in a first-round game Friday at the Paradise Jam.

The Badgers shot 31.3 percent from the floor and no Wisconsin player had more than two assists, but Trevon Hughes had 21 points and Jason Bohannon added 13 to propel them to Sunday's semifinals.

Hughes and Bohannon combined to shoot 17-of-21 from the free-throw line, part of Wisconsin' 25-of-34 performance from the stripe.

"I'm extremely happy with the win," Ryan said. "(Our players) didn't get scatterbrained. They stuck with what they needed to do. ... You've got to get to the line, and we did. When you get into these types of games that's what you've got to do."

The Badgers could face another tough test against San Diego (2-1), which beat Valparaiso 73-66 in its first-round game. Gyno Pomare led the Toreros with 17 points off the bench, also grabbing 12 rebounds to contribute to his team's 50-30 edge on the boards.

"Tonight was a dogfight. Two teams battling it out until the end," San Diego coach Bill Grier told his school's official athletics Web site. "We didn't play perfect, but gutted it out for a very good win."

Last season -- their first under Grier -- the Toreros racked up lots of quality wins, going 22-14 while winning the West Coast Conference tournament and stunning fourth-seeded Connecticut in overtime in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Nearly the entire roster from that squad has returned, including standout senior guard Brandon Johnson, and a possible rematch with the second-ranked Huskies could await San Diego in either the Paradise Jam championship or third-place game. UConn faces No. 17 Miami in the other semifinal.

But first, San Diego will try to get past Wisconsin in the first meeting between the schools. The Badgers have won 23 in a row against unranked non-conference opponents.

Wisconsin won the Paradise Jam title in its only previous appearance at the event in 2005.