Morning State Sports Briefs: UW hoops plays Indiana tonight

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MADISON - The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will host Indiana tonight at the Kohl Center. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN.

And after 17 games, Badger coach Bo Ryan continues to shuffle his starting lineup. Junior guard Jordan Taylor and senior forwards Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil are the only players who’ve started every game for Wisconsin. And they’re all averaging at least 13 points a game in Big Ten play, with Taylor scoring the most with 21. None of the other Badgers is averaging five points a contest, as Ryan goes with the players who are most prepared – and will do the best in complementing his three steady starters. Ryan has used four starting combinations so far this season, after going with just three a year ago. Senior Tim Jarmusz is the Badgers’ fourth-leading scorer in conference play with just under five points per contest. 18th-ranked Wisconsin is 3-2 in the Big Ten, and 13-4 overall. Indiana comes in at 1-4 in league play, and 10-8 overall. Also tonight, the Wisconsin women play at Minnesota. And the UW-Parkside men-and-women host Missouri S&T.

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The Green Bay Packers are the healthiest they’ve been in weeks, as they get ready to play at Chicago in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game. Linebacker Frank Zombo is the only active player not to practice yesterday. He’s been out for over a month with a sprained knee. Coach Mike McCarthy says he won’t rule Zombo out for Sunday, but it appears more likely that Erik Walden will start in his place again. Walden had a career game in the regular season finale against the Bears on January second. He was in on 16 tackles, and he sacked quarterback Jay Cutler three times. But the Bears say Walden won’t be able to sneak up on them like he did in their last game. Meanwhile, the NFL has named Terry McAulay as the referee for Sunday’s contest. His crew gave 18 penalties to the Packers in their game at Chicago in September. McCarthy said the 18 penalties were the exception rather than the rule for the Packers, who had the league’s third-fewest penalties for the regular season as a whole. McAulay won’t have his regular crew with him. Officials are chosen on merit for the conference title games and the Super Bowl. Also, the Packers made a change in their practice squad. They signed rookie receiver Antonio Robinson from Nicholls State, and they put safety Anthony Levine on the squad’s injured list.

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The San Francisco 49’ers are the latest to consider hiring Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst. Media reports said the new 49’ers coach, Jim Harbaugh, wanted permission from the Badgers to talk to Chryst. The two are considered good friends. Athletic director Barry Alvarez says he’s not sure if the Niners arranged an interview, but he’d like to keep Chryst if at all possible. A UW athletic board committee was told this week that the 45-year-old Chryst agreed to a new compensation package that gives him a $100,000 raise in his base salary to $405,000. There’s also outside compensation, but it was not immediately known how much that would rise if at all. Chryst turned down an offer to run the University of Texas offense next season. He’s also been the subject of interest by some other schools and the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Meanwhile, Chryst’s brother Geep has been hired as the 49’ers quarterbacks’ coach. The only other opening on their offensive staff is for the running backs’ coach.

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The Green Bay Gamblers of the U.S. junior Hockey League lost at Cedar Rapids last night, 4-2. Jayson Megna scored twice for Cedar Rapids. Travis Lynch and Robert Francis scored for Green Bay, which fell to 23-8-2.

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Chris Davis of UW-Whitewater and Britta Petersen of Stevens Point are the men’s-and-women’s basketball players of the week in the WIAC. Davis, a junior forward, had 30 points and 13 rebounds in the Warhawks’ victory over Oshkosh – and he scored 29 points last weekend in a win over Eau Claire. Petersen, a senior post player, had 21 points and shot 67-percent in the Pointers’ win over Platteville a week ago. The WIAC also recognized Justin Faryna of Superior in men’s hockey – Dalton Anderson of Oshkosh and Rachel Helgeson of La Crosse in swimming – Andrew Janny and Samantha Koch, both of La Crosse, in diving – Allyse Dieringer of Whitewater and Christa Booman of La Crosse in gymnastics – and Jake Fredricksen of Whitewater in wrestling.

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