Northwestern has its work cut out for it on Sunday at Wisconsin.

The Wildcats are riding a two-game losing streak and will again be playing without leading scorer Scottie Lindsey. They are playing the Badgers, who are 21-3 (10-1 Big Ten), No. 1 in the Big Ten and No. 7 in the country, and have won seven straight. To top that off, the Wildcats must play at the Kohl Center, an inhospitable arena where they are 1-14 all-time.

But at least the game is on Sunday. The Wildcats (18-6, 7-4) may be shorthanded and have the odds stacked against them, but they have the calendar on their side.

The Wildcats have been super on Sunday all season, posing a 5-0 record on the first day of the week, including winning four straight conference games in January. Northwestern beat New Orleans 83-49 on Dec. 11 to start its Sunday drive. Since Big Ten play began, the Wildcats downed Nebraska 74-66 in Lincoln on Jan. 8, Iowa 89-54 at home on Jan. 15, Ohio State 74-72 in Columbus on Jan. 22 and Indiana 68-55 at home on Jan. 29, all on Sunday.

A few of the wins were significant ones, too. The 35-point rout of Iowa may have been the best performance by a Northwestern team in recent history, the win on the road over Ohio State was the first for the program since 1977, and the victory over Indiana, in front of a packed house at Welsh-Ryan Arena, may have been the high-water mark of what could yet to turn out to be a historic season.

Northwestern may have the edge when it comes to the day of the week, but geography is decidedly working against the Wildcats.

Wisconsin opened the Kohl Center on Jan. 17, 1998 with a 56-33 over Northwestern in an offensive blackout. That was the first of what turned out to be 13 straight losses for the Wildcats in the building. They got their lone win on Jan. 29, 2014, when Chris Collins’ first team went up to Madison and stunned the No. 14 Badgers, 65-56, behind Drew Crawford’s 30 points.

Coming off of an ugly home loss to Illinois on Thursday night, the Wildcats could atone for their lone bad defeat of the season with a win over the Badgers. But doing it without Lindsey will be daunting task.

Not only do the Wildcats miss Lindsey’s team-leading 15.4 points per game and length on defense, but his absence has thrust other players until unfamiliar roles.

“I think the main thing you miss is just the interruption of the rhythm you had as a team,” said Collins on Saturday. “We were playing very well, everybody kind of knew their role. We had our five starters, we had our bench guys, everybody was comfortable.

“And when you lose a guy, it not only affects that guy because of being out, it affects your whole team because now guys have to carry on roles that they haven’t been playing. You’ve got to do different things. Someone who hasn’t been starting now has to start. Someone who had a certain role may not have to do a little bit more. I think it just messes up your chemistry a little bit.”

That seemed to be the case against Illinois. Isiah Brown started in place of Lindsey but scored just 5 points while battling foul trouble. McIntosh and Vic Law, trying to provide more offense, combined for 37 points but hit just 13 of 34 shots. The Wildcat bench was outscored 30-13 and McIntosh turned the ball over six times.

Collins and McIntosh emphasized that while there is no panic within the team, the losses have created a renewed sense of urgency in the quest to land an NCAA tournament bid. The Wildcats were an eighth seed in yesterday’s NCAA bracket unveiling but there’s no question that they still have work to do.

“I don’t think there’s any reason for us to panic,” said McIntosh. “The problem right now is guys are playing in roles they’re not accustomed to and as they get more confident, they’ll get more comfortable in their role. But I still think there’s a belief in our locker room and that we’re a really good team.”

Wisconsin, which didn’t land a spot in the top 16 seeds announced on Saturday by the selection committee despite its lofty ranking, already believes it’s a really good team. The Badgers are No. 1 in the Big Ten in scoring defense (60.2 ppg) and rebounding (30.2 rpg). They also have three players among the top 15 scorers in the league in Ethan Happ (14.5 ppg), Bronson Koenig (13.9) and Nigel Hayes (13.6).

Collins likens the smart, veteran Badgers with the Butler and Notre Dame teams Northwestern faced in non-conference play. Both teams beat the Wildcats in heartbreakers.

That’s what sticks in Collins’ craw the most about the loss to Illinois. Even though his team didn’t play well, the game hung in the balance down the stretch and his team failed to execute, turning the ball over five times in the last three minutes.

“We have a three-point lead with the ball with three minutes and change (left), and you have to find a way to close it out,” he said. “And we didn’t.”