WBB Recap: Badgers barely hang on to beat Mavericks by two

Ronnie Porter sat this one out with an injury and her ball-handling was missed.

The Wisconsin Badgers struggled with ball security due to their starting point guard being out, but still held on to beat the Omaha Mavericks by two points on Saturday afternoon at the Kohl Center. Different players, like Natalie Leuzinger and Halle Douglass, stepped up in Ronnie Porter’s absence and the Badgers are still undefeated at home this year, the first time they’ve started the season 5-0 at home since 2013-14.

Final Score

Wisconsin Badgers (5-1 overall, 0-0 Big Ten): 67
Omaha Mavericks (1-5 overall, 0-0 Summit): 65

Four Factors

eFG%: 52.8
Turnover%: 28.8
Off. Rebound%: 43.8
FTA/FGA: 29.6

Key Stats

FG%: 46.3 (25-of-54)
Opp. FG%: 43.1 (25-of-58)
3P%: 38.9 (7-of-18)
Opp. 3P%: 44.4 (8-of-18)
FT%: 62.5 (10-of-16)
Opp. FT%: 87.5 (7-of-8)
Points Per Possession: 1.015
Opponent Points Per Possession: 1.000
Rebounds: 38 (14 offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 26 (eight offensive)
Turnovers: 19
Forced Turnovers: 13

Team Leaders

• Tess Myers: 15 points (5-of-11 FG, 5-of-10 3P), five rebounds, one assist, two steals, -4

• Serah Williams: 20 points (9-of-13 FG, 0-of-1 3P), 14 rebounds (six offensive), three assists, one block, -1

• Natalie Leuzinger: 16 points (4-of-8 FG, 1-of-2 3P), two rebounds (one offensive), three assists, one steal, -1

• Jovana Spasovski: six points (3-of-4 FG), two rebounds (one offensive), one steal, +5

Omaha Team Leaders

• Ja Harvey: 14 points (6-of-11 FG, 2-of-3 3P), two rebounds, three assists, three steals, +8

• Katie Keitges: nine points (3-of-3 FG, 3-of-3 3P), three rebounds, four assists, even

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Three-ish Thoughts

1. Ronnie Porter was listed as OUT for the game due to, what I read online, was an illness but who knows if that was the actual reason. Missing your starting point guard is tough, especially when the Badgers don’t necessarily have a traditional backup. D’Yanis Jimenez earned the start, and has been soaking up backup ball-handler duties this year, but she isn’t a natural point guard.
   
   Secondary playmakers like Leuzinger and Douglass, who each had three assists, really stepped up and helped keep the offense moving. Serah Williams continued her successful season of passing out of double teams with a trio of assists too.

2. For the second straight game, Wisconsin came out of the gates cold on offense. However, for the second straight game they came out hot on defense, which allowed them to build a 13-point halftime lead as their shooting picked up.
   
   While in an ideal world the Badgers would open games firing on all cylinders on both ends of the floor, holding the Mavericks to 26.7% shooting from the field in the first quarter is a pretty solid consolation prize.

3. Freshman Jovana Spasovski was a midrange maven on Saturday. She made a pair of nice midrange jumpers while going 3-of-4 from the field. While she hasn’t been super consistent yet, the 20-year old Serbian makes veteran plays for a freshman like when she tipped a rebound to herself and secured the Badgers an additional possession. Excited to see her level of play at the end of the year.

4. Without Porter in the lineup, Omaha’s press gave Wisconsin fits in the fourth quarter. In the first three minutes of the final period the Badgers turned it over three times due to Omaha’s pressure and they ended up turning it over seven times (to Omaha’s one) in the fourth quarter overall. We already knew this, but Porter is an extremely important part of this Badgers team.

5. A few other notes: there was a nice backdoor cut by Lily Krahn at the end of the 1st quarter for a layup and the Badgers used Omaha’s aggressive defense against them a few times like this; UW’s out of bounds plays are too long in developing and resulted in a five-second call on Saturday; Omaha’s Grace Cave (No. 20) didn’t have a great game offensively (3-of-16 FG, 0-of-4 3P) but she is an absolute DEMON on defense, especially on the press where she ended up with five steals; rough game for Carter McCray who didn’t score in 22 minutes and picked up three fouls and three turnovers, but she did have two steals, a block, and five boards to contribute in other ways; this was Serah Williams’ second straight game scoring 20+ points and her 26th career double-double

6. After Tess Myers hit a three to push Wisconsin’s lead to 13 points with 2:03 left in the third quarter, it appeared as though the Badgers forgot how to play basketball for a couple of minutes.
   
   They gave up a layup, missed a three, gave up a three, missed another three, and then gave up an offensive rebound with one second left that resulted in a three-point play after Carter McCray fouled Morgann Gardner. All of a sudden Wisconin’s lead was only five with one quarter to play.

7. The fourth quarter was, to put it mildly, a rollercoaster ride. The first five minutes saw Wisconsin trying to pull away but Omaha refused to go quietly. Then, with 1:45 to go in the game, Natalie Leuzinger made one of two free throws to give the Badgers a four-point lead and Omaha called timeout.
   
   Out of the timeout the Mavericks immediately hit a deep three to make it a one-point game. Leuzinger went to the free throw line again, making both this time, but Grace Cave quickly scored a layup to make it a one-point game again.
   
   The Mavericks committed another foul, non-shooting variety, and Wisconsin bled the clock down to 22 seconds but Leuzinger missed a layup. Williams got the offensive rebound and quickly got it to Leuzinger who was fouled. She made one of two, but Williams got ANOTHER offensive rebound and was fouled herself! With 11 seconds left, Williams went to the line to ice the game and…missed both free throws.
   
   Omaha had the ball with 11 seconds left, down two points, and couldn’t get a good look. Leuzinger gave up a foul with four seconds left to stop a Mavericks player from getting to the basket. Omaha had it out of bounds and overthrew everyone on the inbounds. Wisconsin ball! Game over right?
   
   WRONG! Halle Douglass struggled to get the ball inbounds herself, had her pass tipped up by Grace Cave and then caught it while still standing out of bounds. Omaha ball with three seconds left! With another foul to give, the Badgers get the clock down to one second and the final Mavericks heave at the basket misses.
   
   Sheesh, that was an exhausting final two minutes!

Final Thought

There are no “bad wins” in sports, but this was certainly not a good one. Both Her Hoops Stats and Bart Torvik had the Badgers as big time favorites in this game and it ended up being wayyy closer than everyone thought. Were the Badgers looking ahead to their Thanksgiving trip to Cancun? Maybe…but they were still able to gut out a win, and that’s important.

Like the game against UIC, this is one where I could easily see earlier iterations of Marisa Moseley’s Badgers losing. But…they didn’t! This team seems different and they’ll face a number of challenges next weekend in Mexico. I will (hopefully) have a tournament preview done by tip-off of the first game on Thursday, but please don’t hold me to that!

Next Game: Thursday, Nov. 28; 2024 Cancun Challenge; vs. San Diego State; 12:30 p.m. CT; FloCollege; Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya; Cancun, Mexico

Badgers Ball Ruminations: Nebraska Recap

Lol. Lmao. Things of that nature. Laughing to keep from crying, folks!

Pathetic. Embarrassing. Humiliating. Inadequate. Feeble. Lackluster. Doo-doo assed.

These are just some of the words that would describe the Wisconsin Badgers’ “effort” on Saturday afternoon against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Losers of 10 straight to Wisconsin and nine straight with bowl eligibility on the line, Nebraska came out of the gates hot and took advantage of myriad UW mistakes to blow the doors off the Badgers, 44-25. That’s the most points Nebraska has scored this season and the most points they’ve ever scored against Wisconsin.

Luke Fickell’s team, fresh off the firing of offensive coordinator Phil Longo, showed limited signs of life on that side of the ball but completely pissed down their leg on defense as the Huskers racked up 473 yards of offense and the aforementioned 44 points. It’s a little known fact, but, legally speaking, Wisconsin’s offense and defense can’t play well at the same time. The Badgers are just following law enforcement instructions.

Fickell has been constantly preaching how close this team is to getting over the hump or breaking through or whatever bullshit he has been spewing after disappointing losses the past two seasons, which begs the question…is he stupid, blind, a liar, or all three? Nothing about how Wisconsin has played this season gives off “almost a top-tier B1G team” vibes. Hell, it doesn’t even give off “top-half of the B1G team” vibes.

This team is bad. The quarterback is bad. The coaching is bad. They aren’t tough enough. They don’t play with enough (any?) heart. The team makes boneheaded decisions that result in crucial penalties almost every week. I know they don’t get penalized that often, but so many of them have been back-breaking infractions that it’s hard to say anything other than “this team is not properly prepared to meet the moment.”

Commercial actor, minority owner of Burnley FC, and former Central Michigan TE J.J. Watt

Firing Longo was the correct call, but there are many, many other things that need to change in Madison before this program is even close to winning eight games, let alone any sort of championship that isn’t the Boca Raton Bowl. To be quite honest, I don’t know if Fickell is a good enough coach to make the requisite on-field decisions to get the Badgers back on track.

He’s clearly a talented and persuasive recruiter, and having a higher talent floor on the team should certainly help, but he doesn’t appear to have anything resembling a plan or a vision for the team outside of his fucking stupid T.E.A.M. jacket that I’d like to burn. There is zero consistency in the gameday decision making, whether it’s fourth down decisions or two-point conversion decisions or when to kneel out the half instead of trying to run a play for some reason that wasn’t even a pass and even if it hadn’t been a fumble and Wisconsin got into field goal range would their shit-ass kicker even be able to kick it towards the uprights?

Luke Fickell on gameday.

I will always, unfortunately, care about this stupid fucking team no matter how much I say I won’t but Fickell is teetering on the edge of having a lot of fans tune out. They haven’t beaten anyone better than them in his tenure and they regularly don’t beat teams on their same level. They have lost their first two trophy games of the season and their final trophy game, at home against archival Minnesota in a game they need to win in order to be bowl eligible, is one in which they won’t be favored. When/if they lose it’ll be their fifth straight loss to end the season.

There is zero percent of me that believes Wisconsin will beat Minnesota on Friday and that seems like as good an indicator as any to where the UW program sits.

Former Badgers CB Sojourn Shelton II

Good Things

• You, me, basically everyone has been hard on QB Braedyn Locke’s performance this season but he showed up and played pretty damn well in his first game without Longo calling the plays. Locke was 20-of-30 for 292 yards, three TDs, and his weekly interception. Although, to be fair, his pick occurred when the game was already decided AND it ricocheted off WR Bryson Green’s hands.
  
  He wasn’t perfect, but he played well enough to be the winning quarterback on Saturday and there haven’t been many games recently where you could say that.

• Green, while he should’ve caught the ball that was intercepted, had a nice game otherwise. He caught four passes for 52 and a pair of scores, both of which were impressive catches where he went up and over Nebraska defensive backs to secure the touchdown.

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  Green missed a month earlier this season with an injury so it’s nice to see him back on the field and performing up to his potential. The big-bodied receiver can be a lethal red-zone threat when healthy.

• WR Vinny Anthony continued his breakout season with the best game of his career. Against Nebraska he caught seven passes for 137 yards (19.6 ypc) and a 58-yard TD that pulled Wisconsin within 12 near the beginning of the fourth quarter. It was his third 50-yard TD of the season and his sixth catch of over 40 yards.

• Freshman RB Darrion Dupree looked explosive running the ball for 63 yards on eight totes.

• I liked how WR Trech Kekahuna cut the ball up field on the little pop pass play UW ran when he saw that he’d be stopped if he kept going towards the sideline.

• P Atticus Bertrams punted well.

• The forced fumble by ILB Jake Chaney and soft hands on the recovery by DL Ben Barten were nice.

• If you look at the advanced stats for this game, Wisconsin’s offense actually played really well. They had a 52% success rate (92nd percentile on the season) and averaged 0.19 EPA/Play (79th) while picking up 7.7 yards per play (89th). The running game was lackluster (-0.21 EPA/rush; 16th percentile) but Locke had an EPA/dropback of 0.51 which is in the 91st percentile for the season in all of FBS.
  
  Hell, they even had an explosive play rate in the 90th percentile with four coming through the air and three on the ground. In every one of those stats (except rushing EPA) they were better than Nebraska in this game. Again, these are offensive numbers that, if offered, Fickell and co. would’ve jumped at before the game was even kicked off because more often than not you’d imagine Wisconsin winning by multiple scores if Locke played like that.

Bad Things

• Unfortunately, there are multiple units on a football team, not just one and for as good as the offense was, the defense and field goal kicking were worse. The offense, as they have all season, struggled again in pivotal situations. UW was 3-of-10 on third down and 1-of-2 on fourth down while also only scoring one touchdown in three trips to the red-zone.
  
  Down by 17 with 6:27 to go in the third quarter Wisconsin had the ball on Nebraska’s 25-yard line and faced 4th and 2…can you guess what happened? They tried to pound the ball up the middle with RB Tawee Walker and, SHOCKINGLY, Nebraska sold out to stop the run up the middle and dropped Walker for a loss of one. In another sign of a well-coached and creative team, the Badgers had the ball in the red-zone after a big forced turnover and couldn’t get in the endzone but had a 29-yard FG set up for K Nathaniel Vakos…except they got called for a delay of game and Vakos, who made the kick, had to try again from 34 yards which he proceeded to shank.

• Which brings me to my next point…penalties. The Badgers had seven of them on Saturday and I’d say that six of them were brutal self-owns that contributed directly to Wisconsin losing. Let’s go over them in painstaking detail!

  • the delay of game that led to a missed FG mentioned above

  • a false start by Joe Huber that moved the Badgers from 1st and 10 at the Nebraska 23 to 1st and 15 at the Nebraska 28 doesn’t seem like that big of a deal until you realize that UW ended that drive with a field goal (this one went in!) on a 4th and 3…which would’ve been a 1st and 10 on the Nebraska 13 if UW hadn’t lost five yards earlier

  • with Nebraska up 14-10 and in Wisconsin’s redzone with 26 seconds left, the Huskers faced 3rd and 10. CB Ricardo Hallman committed a blatant pass interference penalty to give the Huskers 1st and goal from the 5-yard line and they scored on the next play to go up 21-10

  • OL Joe Brunner had a false start at the beginning of the third quarter that didn’t really affect much

  • and now for the fucking coup de grâce to this painstakingly pitiful performance! The Badgers had just scored a TD and converted a two-point conversion to cut Nebraska’s lead to 12 with 8:30 remaining. Was a comeback likely? Ehhh, probably not, but if the UW defense got a quick three-and-out? Well, now Nebraska will start thinking about all of the other games they’ve blown over the past five years in situations exactly like this and…you never know what could happen! Instead of anything close to that, Nebraska methodically marched down the field, aided by three (!!!) Wisconsin personal foul penalties, and scored the final touchdown-shaped nail in the Badgers’ coffin. LB Tackett Curtis, who is basically a walking personal foul at this point, committed two of them and John Pius whacked Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola in the face for the other one. All three were avoidable and yet!

• The penalties appear to be getting worse as the season goes on and that is, quite literally, the sign of a poorly coached and developed team! What the hell do they teach in practice?

• Mike Tressel’s defense, a week after looking really good against Oregon, was out-schemed and out-muscled all game by the Huskers. The Badgers recorded zero sacks, zero tackles for loss, and probably couldn’t even tell you what number Raiola was wearing because they never got close enough to him to see. It was a mind-bogglingly poor performance against a freshman quarterback who has shown that he suffers when pressured. Missing star S Hunter Wohler for the whole game and LB Jake Chaney for some of it surely affected the defense, but so much that a putrid Nebraska offense suddenly looked like The Greatest Show on Turf?

• Vakos missed, quite badly, two makeable kicks. He has had a, to put it politely, difficult season.

• Is there anyone on Fickell’s staff that can do math? How do they make their two-point conversion decisions? Do they have a chart? Is it completely vibes-based? It seems like it is and it seems like Fickell has zero fingers on the pulse of those vibes!

• The tackling was bad by Wisconsin.

• The Badgers, as noted by JJ Watt during the game, have been the less physical team in the trenches against both Iowa and Nebraska. One can expect that to continue (unless the Badgers magically fix everything about their team on a short week lmao) against Minnesota on Friday.

Legendary Wisconsin RB Anthony Davis

Nebraska entered the game on a four-game losing streak. They hadn’t beaten Wisconsin in 10 games and were 1-11 against UW since joining the Big Ten in 2011. They had never won the Freedom Trophy. They were 0-9 in their last nine games when trying to win their sixth game of the season. They hadn’t been bowl eligible since 2016, their longest bowl drought since 1961.

All they needed to cure what ailed them was a visit from Luke Fickell’s Badgers. Teams now see UW on the schedule and can safely assume they’ll see a soft, mentally-weak, poorly-coached squad that will assuredly shoot themselves in the foot at least once.

Former Badgers DL Isaiah Mullens

As I was finishing writing this, 2025 4-star QB Carter Smith (Fort Myers, Fla.) announced that he was officially flipping his commitment from Michigan to Wisconsin. Smith is the second-highest rated QB (after Graham Mertz) the Badgers have had in the recruiting rankings era. By all accounts he is the type of guy that can come in and make an instant impact.

Recruiter Fickell is giving Coach Fickell a ton of arrows in his quiver. Hopefully Coach Fickell can point them in the right direction. Right now? I would watch my own feet if I were on Wisconsin’s sideline.

WBB Recap: Wisconsin holds on for close win against feisty Flames

That Serah Williams sure is good at basketball, huh?

Another game, another Wisconsin Badgers victory. UW welcomed the UIC Flames to the Kohl Center on Thursday night and emerged from the muck with their fourth win of the season. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win and that’s all that matters in the end.

Final Score

Wisconsin Badgers (4-1 overall, 0-0 Big Ten): 61
UIC Flames (0-3 overall, 0-0 Missouri Valley): 57

Four Factors

eFG%: 48.1
Turnover%: 26.5
Off. Rebound%: 17.9
FTA/FGA: 22.6

Key Stats

FG%: 47.2 (25-of-53)
Opp. FG%: 37.3 (22-of-59)
3P%: 14.3 (1-of-7)
Opp. 3P%: 30.0 (3-of-10)
FT%: 83.3 (10-of-12)
Opp. FT%: 55.6 (10-of-18)
Points Per Possession: 0.897
Opponent Points Per Possession: 0.826
Rebounds: 35 (five offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 32 (nine offensive)
Turnovers: 18
Forced Turnovers: 14

Team Leaders

• Ronnie Porter: eight points (3-of-10 FG, 0-of-2 3P), two rebounds, five assists, -8

• Serah Williams: 20 points (8-of-14 FG), 14 rebounds (two offensive), one assist, two blocks, three steals, +7

• Halle Douglass: two points (1-of-4 FG), three rebounds, five assists, one block, one steal, +1

• Carter McCray: 10 points (5-of-5 FG), seven rebounds (one offensive), one steal, -7

UIC Team Leaders

• Krystyna Ellew: 18 points (6-of-6 FG, 2-of-2 3P), one rebound, one assist, two steals, +1

• Jaida McCloud: 12 points (6-of-9 FG), seven rebounds (three offensive), one block, one steal, -5

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Three-ish Thoughts

1. This wasn’t a pleasant game to watch, unless you’re into choppy offense and poor shooting from beyond the arc, but that does mean that the defenses probably played well. And, wouldn’t you know it, the Wisconsin D in the first half was outstanding.
   
   The Badgers held the Flames to 6-of-28 (21.4%) from the field and 1-of-6 (16.7%) from three while forcing nine turnovers. In the second quarter, UIC only managed to score seven points which tied for the 10th fewest Wisconsin has ever allowed in one quarter.
   
   Serah Williams was patrolling the paint (two blocks, one steal) well in the first half and Carter McCray (one steal) and Halle Douglass (one block) were also effective in the post.

2. On the other side of the court, UIC struggled to protect the paint and the duo of Williams and McCray had a first half field day down low. The Flames tallest rotation player is 6-foot-2 and she is not what I’d call a rim protector. The Badgers scored 25 points in the first half and 22 of those were in the paint.
   
   Williams and McCray each had 10, Ronnie Porter had a driving layup, and then Tess Myers had to go and ruin everything by making a three-pointer. UW ended the game with 48 of their 61 points coming in the paint.
   
   Wisconsin had been shooting just under 21 three-pointers per game entering last night, but only took seven against the Flames. Credit the Badgers scouting report which must’ve said they’d find success inside. It’s cool to see a team alter their strategy based on what the other team is going to give them.

3. Serah Williams, who recorded her 25th career double-double with 20 points and 14 boards, also passed the 1,000 career points barrier on Thursday night. According to UW, Williams reached the milestone in 66 games, tied for the third fastest in program history. With 1,016 points she is 28th on the all-time Wisconsin scoring leaderboard. For reference, the leading scorer in UW (men’s or women’s) history (Jolene Anderson, 2004-08) ended her career with 2,312 points in 123 games.

   

   Courtesy @BadgerWBB on Instagram

4. I’ve been saying this for a couple of years now, but it is worth repeating: Natalie Leuzinger makes winning plays. In a tight game like this one, little things can make a big difference and there was one particular play by Leuzinger that I want to highlight.
   
   With just over a minute left in the third quarter UIC cut UW’s lead down to five points again and had Williams trapped along the baseline with the shot-clock under 10 seconds. Instead of standing still and waiting for something to happen, Leuzinger took advantage of her defender “ball watching” and cut towards the basket from the opposite wing. Williams, to her credit, placed a perfect bounce pass in Leuzinger’s hand and the veteran guard scored an easy deuce.
   
   While Leuzinger struggled with turnovers (five) and fouls (four) on the night, she was able to make a big difference on offense due to her high basketball IQ. This doesn’t really matter, because I like to see all Badgers do well, but it’s always fun when a local kid makes a difference for the local team.

5. Krystyna Ellew’s return to Madison was a rousing, personal, success. The senior guard saw her minutes greatly decrease as a sophomore and is now in her second season at UIC after transferring.
   
   She didn’t start for the Flames, but was by far their most effective offensive player on the game. She ended up with 18 points on perfect shooting (6-of-6 FG, 2-of-2 3P) while chipping in with a rebound, an assist, and two steals. Ellew was also one of only two Flames’ players that had a positive plus/minus for the game.
   
   Kind of a perfect scenario for UW fans here: a former player does well AND the Badgers still get the win.

6. Shoutout to Williams for being aggressive all night and not putting up with any of UIC’s shit during this game. It did result in a technical foul in the fourth quarter, which was offsetting with Kristian Young, but I don’t really care about that. I love that she’s showing more fire on the court this year.

7. After struggling mightily in the first couple of games from the free throw line, the Badgers went 10-of-12 from the charity stripe on Thursday night and, quite frankly, needed all 10 of ‘em.

Final Thought

As mentioned above, this wasn’t an aesthetically pleasing game from either team, but those games will happen during a long season. What makes me think we might remember this game at the end of the year is that…Wisconsin loses this game the last two years. But this year they didn’t.

They only made one three-pointer, turned the ball over a season-high 18 times, and struggled to generate offense consistently resulting in scoring droughts. Despite that, they were locked in on defense all game and, when it came down to the end of the fourth quarter they just made plays to win.

Williams stealing the ball and then taking it coast-to-coast for a layup? That’s a winning play. Leuzinger calmly sinking two free throws with 10 seconds left in a four-point game? Winning play. Playing tough team defense to force UIC to use up seven of 10 seconds on one possession when they needed two possessions to tie? Big time winning play.

The Badgers have lost a lot under Marisa Moseley (and, well, pretty much every coach they’ve had) but they’ve also steadily gotten better. While I was watching this game I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head during the third quarter that Wisconsin was going to blow a lead against an inferior team, because that’s what they used to do.

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This year’s team does not do that and I think the fans should join the players in believing it.

Next Game: Saturday, Nov. 23; vs. Omaha; 1:00 p.m. CT; B1G+; Kohl Center

WBB Recap: Wisconsin bounces back and dismantles Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon

The Badgers were moving the ball like the Showtime Lakers and took the Panthers down by 37.

After suffering their first loss of the season, the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team returned home to the Kohl Center on Sunday afternoon and dispatched in-state rivals Milwaukee with ease. UW was up 20 at halftime and put it on cruise control the rest of the way to win 82-45.

Four Badgers scored in double-figures and Wisconsin had 23 assists on 33 made field goals. It was an excellent “get right” game for UW, so let’s take a look at how it all happened!

Final Score

Wisconsin Badgers (3-1 overall, 0-0 Big Ten): 82
Milwaukee Panthers (2-3 overall, 0-0 Horizon): 45

Four Factors

eFG%: 54.3
Turnover%: 16.1
Off. Rebound%: 41.7
FTA/FGA: 13.0

Key Stats

FG%: 47.8 (33-of-69)
Opp. FG%: 30.5 (18-of-59)
3P%: 40.9 (9-of-22)
Opp. 3P%: 13.0 (3-of-23)
FT%: 77.8 (7-of-9)
Opp. FT%: 75.0 (6-of-8)
Points Per Possession: 1.206
Opponent Points Per Possession: 0.692
Rebounds: 52 (15 offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 27 (six offensive)
Turnovers: 11
Forced Turnovers: 11

Team Leaders

• Ronnie Porter: 11 points (4-of-8 FG, 2-of-4 3P), four rebounds (one offensive), six assists, +29

• Serah Williams: 14 points (7-of-13 FG), eight rebounds (two offensive), four assists, three blocks, +36

• Tess Myers: 15 points (5-of-9 FG, 5-of-9 3P), three rebounds, one assist, one steal, +37

• Carter McCray: 15 points (5-of-9 FG), nine rebounds (three offensive), two steals, +19

Milwaukee Team Leaders

• Jada Donaldson: 10 points (4-of-7 FG, 1-of-2 3P), five rebounds (one offensive), one assist, -27

• Payton Rechlicz: seven points (3-of-6 FG, 1-of-3 3P), two rebounds (one offensive), two steals, -13

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Three-ish Thoughts

1. The Badgers got out and ran against the Panthers, scoring 16 fast break points in the game. D’Yanis Jimenez runs the floor like a bolt of lightning and attacks the rim well. Ronnie Porter has been an excellent floor general on the break, finding the open player to get the ball to or, if the situation dictates, slowing things up and getting back into the regular offense.
   
   There was one really nice transition play where Jimenez rifled a pass down the court to Halle Douglass who then did an extremely impressive touch pass to a cutting Jovana Spasovski for a layup. Everyone involved made the correct read and almost seemed to be connected telepathically. Getting easy buckets like that will be crucial once UW enters conference play and the defenses improve.

2. Speaking of passing the ball, the Badgers were really good at it on Sunday! As a team, Wisconsin had an assist rate of 69.7% which means that nearly 70% of their made baskets came via assist. Douglass (41%), Porter (35%), Jimenez (30%), and Serah Williams (28%) all had a nice day passing the rock.
   
   Milwaukee tried to swarm Williams in the post early and often, but the junior big did a good job at understanding where the double team was coming from and knowing who would be open on the perimeter. Two of Williams’ four helpers were converted into three pointers and one was a Big-to-Big dime that Carter McCray turned into a layup.
   
   Porter hasn’t been scoring as much the past two games, but she has 10 assists and only one turnover and is turning into the consummate point guard. Douglass and Jimenez are two players who fly a bit under the radar in terms of their playmaking, but they are both capable of reading the floor and finding an open teammate.

3. Jimenez is a player that still puzzles me, however. Her assist numbers have improved every game this year (going from zero to one to two to three) and she is averaging a steal per game on defense, but she has yet to record a turnover percentage below 39% (her season rate is 43.3%) and has a preposterous usage rate of 28.8%, the second highest on the team behind Williams.
   
   To put those numbers into perspective: last season among players that had a usage rate higher than 28%, the worst turnover rate recorded was 32.4%. That player also had an assist rate of 24.4%, while Jimenez’s is 15.8% this year. Now, all of the “small sample size” caveats apply here since the Badgers have only played four games, but the numbers don’t like Jimenez much.
   
   I find that is extremely helpful to, you know, watch the games too and it is there where I find a disconnect in what Jimenez’s stats say and what is actually happening on the court. Does she sometimes make a bad pass that she wishes she hadn’t? Of course, every player does. But one of her three turnovers on Sunday was the result of her being in the right place at the right time trying to save a possession for her team, but she couldn’t get a behind the back while falling out of bounds pass to a teammate.
   
   Was that play statistically a turnover? Yes, it has to be marked as something in the box score. But, I’m sure when watching that play back after the game the coaching staff praised Jimenez for her hustle. There’s a reason Jimenez continues to see almost 14 minutes of playing time per game on a deeper team than Marisa Moseley has had in her three years. Once she allows her offense to come to her instead of trying to force shots, I think she has the makings of a Sixth Woman of the Year in the Big Ten.

4. I loved Jovanna Spasovski’s rebounding. She was routinely in the right spot to pick up the loose ball and, as a result, got a handful of easy buckets.

5. When looking at the box score before watching the game, I noted that UWM attempted 23 three-pointers (second most allowed by UW on the season) and I was interested in seeing if there was a defensive break down by Wisconsin or not.
   
   The Panthers came into the game on a bit of a hot streak from beyond the arc, having made an average of 10 per game in their previous three, but the Badgers were able to hold them in check thanks in large part to forcing Milwaukee to shoot from deeper than they wanted.
   
   I didn’t have my measuring tape out, but the Panthers regularly hucked up threes from a foot or two beyond the arc and it greatly affected their ability to make them.

6. Milwaukee switched to a zone a few times during the game and it initially gave UW trouble. However, once they saw it for a few possessions they started moving the ball more crisply and Tess Myers busted it with a pair of three-pointers. It’s probably too early in the season to say this but…Myers’ three-point shooting is a pretty good indicator, so far, on how Wisconsin is playing.

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7. Important note: near the end of the third quarter Carter McCray scored while losing a shoe. She now leads the team with two points while having fewer than two shoes on. Something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

Final Thought

In Marisa Moseley’s first season as the head coach in Madison, the Badgers played Milwaukee to open the year. They won by nine. Her second season saw the Panthers up first on the schedule again and UW won by 11. This year? It was complete and utter dominance from start to finish.

Now, is Milwaukee the measuring stick that the Badgers want to be using? No, of course not. HOWEVAH, like many things this season, beating the Panthers by three times as many points as last year is a marked, measurable improvement. Turnovers are way down, scoring is up, they’re shooting threes at a, frankly, unsustainable clip, they aren’t giving up second chance opportunities…they are playing like a well-coached, well-drilled, cohesive unit.

Marisa Moseley has the program pointed in the right direction and while it might not be happening as quickly as everyone would like it, you can’t really complain about steady, sustained improvement year over year. With the Big Ten becoming way tougher due to the new West Coast additions, it’s good that the Badgers are already on their upward trajectory because otherwise they might struggle to get out of the conference cellar.

Next Game: Thursday, Nov. 21; vs. UIC; 6:30 p.m. CT; B1G+; Kohl Center

Badgers Ball Ruminations: Oregon Recap

Phil Longo is out as Wisconsin's OC after another high-school level offensive performance in Saturday night's loss to Oregon.

The Wisconsin Badgers lost to the No. 1 ranked Oregon Ducks on Saturday night by three points in a game that was much closer than everyone thought. However, the 16-13 setback did result in one big win for UW…on Sunday, under 24 hours after the game, head coach Luke Fickell announced that he had fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo. My thoughts on this as a neutral and unbiased journalist?

My enemies are vanquished and I will never die!

Longo, who I don’t know personally and is probably a decent dude, can’t clean out his office in Madison fast enough for my liking. He was the wrong choice as offensive coordinator the moment he signed his contract with UW and, somehow, he was an ever wronger choice with each passing week since.

I am historically anti-numbers and anti-nerds, but sometimes it is important to look at the statistics when evaluating someone’s job performance. Here are Wisconsin’s national offensive ranks (out of 134 FBS teams) in a few important statistical categories this season:

• Points per game, 23.9, 97th (in five games this year vs. FBS teams with winning records they are averaging 17.6 ppg)

• Yards per game, 363.1, 91st

• Yards per play, 5.37, 98th

• Rushing yards per game, 169.3, 57th

• Rushing yards per carry, 4.54, 62nd

• Passing yards per game, 193.8, 102nd

• Passing yards per attempt, 6.4, 122nd

• Passer rating, 115.78, 121st

• Completion percentage, 57.1, 113th

• Turnovers, 16, 92nd

• 3rd down conversions, 37.7, 86th

• 4th down conversions, 64.7, 28th (heyyyy, not bad!)

• Red zone scoring rate, 80.56, 99th

• Red zone TD rate, 61.11, 73rd

• Penalty yards per game, 33.2 6th

• Penalties per game, 4.9, 21st

• Overall EPA (expected points added), 0.015, 58th

• Rushing EPA, 0.022, 51st

• Passing EPA, -0.003, 67th

So, outside of limiting penalties (although I’d argue that many of the penalties were pre-snap and procedural and therefore on the coaching staff) and converting a solid number of fourth downs, the Wisconsin Badgers offense under Phil Longo this year could easily be described as one of the worst of any P4 team. Now, this isn’t me suggesting that UW should return to the late 90s and run the ball three times up the middle and hope that one of them breaks out into an explosive play in the fourth quarter, quite the contrary in fact.

The Badgers have needed an upgraded, modern offense for years…but they need it to be rooted in things that Wisconsin does best. Longo’s Air Raid offense was never going to work in Madison for myriad reasons, not the least of which were “attracting the appropriate level of talent” and “being on the same page offensively as the head coach.”

I have no “inside sources” but it was pretty clear, even to outside observers, that Longo and Fickell never saw eye to eye on how Wisconsin’s offense should be run. That’s a recipe for disaster and, quite frankly, “disaster” would be a kind way to describe UW’s offense for the last two years.

Fickell gets one (1) chance to right this wrong and if his new offensive coordinator is also a bust then he (and potentially AD Chris McIntosh) will be looking for new jobs. Magical one-year turnarounds don’t happen very often (shout-out this year’s Indiana Hoosiers) but with the transfer portal the Badgers should be able to drastically reshape their roster to fit their (new) offensive needs. I honestly just want to see the semblance of a plan on offense next year, it doesn’t have to be Marcus Mariota’s Oregon or Kliff Kingsbury’s Texas Tech…just an offense that is building towards something and not an incoherent jumbling of ideas, none of which were being committed to fully.

It’s a beautiful day, friends. Anything is possible if you just hate enough, remember that. Oh yeah, the game! Guess we should talk about that too.

Good Things

• Mike Tressel’s defensive scheme and execution were top-notch against the Ducks. He hasn’t been great all year but, unlike Longo, he has been flexible and has made adjustments. His game plan that shutdown the prolific Oregon offense is going to be studied by their opponents for the rest of the season. Coming into the game, the Ducks were averaging a hair under 36 points per game and Tressel’s unit held them to 16.

  
  Heisman Trophy candidate Dillon Gabriel came into the game with 22 TDs and five interceptions. He left Camp Randall Stadium with 22 TDs and six interceptions. He averaged 284.8 yards passing before facing UW’s defense and only managed 218 yards through the air on Saturday night.
  
  Tressel’s defense disguised their coverages well, got pressure on the QB, and played bend but don’t break defense that kept the Ducks out of the endzone for every possession except one. It was an inspiring and impressive performance and it deserved a better result than “heartbreaking loss to undefeated team.”

• True freshman CB Xavier Lucas made, what I think, was the MOST impressive play on the night. After the Ducks tied the game at 13 in the fourth quarter, Wisconsin went three-and-out on their response drive, giving Oregon the ball back with the chance to score again and take the lead. After gaining a first down and getting to the Wisconsin 43-yard line, the Ducks offense faced a 3rd and 10.
  
  Having just seen Gabriel escape pressure and convert a 4th and 9 on the last drive I was quite nervous about another long, back-breaking conversion. With Gabriel lined up in the shotgun, Tressel sent Lucas on a delayed corner blitz and Lucas had a free run at the veteran QB. However, Lucas knew that Gabriel is a threat to run and instead of flying at the QB with wreckless abandon, Lucas stopped short and broke down with choppy steps to contain Gabriel.
  
  The Oregon signal caller tried to escape but Lucas kept him penned in until help arrived and then, 15-yards behind the line of scrimmage, he and teammate Curt Neal each recorded half a sack and forced the Ducks to punt it away. This was a play that players many years his senior wouldn’t have made correctly and Lucas made it look easy. What a promising talent he is.

• LB Christian Alliegro got the start and looks the part of a tackling machine.

• CB Nyzier Fourqueran showed good awareness in picking off Gabriel’s pass into he red-zone, directly after being burned by the Ducks to get in the red-zone.

• QB Braedyn Locke threw a beautiful ball to WR Vinny Anthony for a 43-yard gain.

• After looking lost for much of the first quarter, the UW offensive line picked up their play and had a solid final three quarters of the game.

• Longo’s play-call to get WR Will Pauling’s touchdown was really good. To be fair to Longo, he had a couple of other good playcalls that were short-circuited by piss-poor execution.

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• K Nathaniel Vakos made both of his field goal attempts as he continues his season-long resurgence.

• Pass rusher John Pius looked dangerous on Saturday night and recorded a sack. I also liked how DL Ben Barten played.

• RB Tawee Walker did not have a negative run on the night and averaged 4.9 yards per carry.

• The fans were awesome all game and I approve of them booing the offense off the field after their third straight three-and-out to start the game.

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Bad Things

• To be clear, no game is ever one player’s fault one way or the other but…QB Braedyn Locke did not cover himself in glory against the Ducks on Saturday. He completed under half of his 28 attempts, didn’t crack the century mark through the air, was sacked twice, and threw a game-sealing interception, the seventh straight game he’s started in which he has thrown at least one pick.
  
  He continued to struggle with tunnel vision, locking in on one route and throwing it that way regardless of how many defenders were in the way, and getting the ball past the outstretched arms of defensive linemen. He had a handful of severely overthrown passes towards open receivers, one of which, a pass that sailed over Walker’s head out of the backfield in the red zone, would have resulted in an easy six points instead of the eventual field goal UW settled for.
  
  If Wisconsin had trotted out a replacement level QB they most likely win this game, probably by double-digits. I’d argue they probably would’ve won the USC game too. The Iowa game was a complete war crime of an offensive effort and it wouldn’t have mattered if Patrick Mahomes was Wisconsin’s QB. The Penn State game still would’ve been a loss too because UW was lucky to be leading that game at halftime.
  
  Now, to be fair to Locke, he has suffered from multiple receivers dropping catchable passes this year and back-breaking penalties that have erased a few big plays. This is most likely a scenario where both sides agree a change of scenery is the best option at the end of the year. Locke never hid from tough questions and didn’t throw his teammates under the bus and I hope he finds success playing QB next year whether it is in Madison or not.

• The offensive line was brutal in the first quarter and, combined with Locke’s inaccuracy, saw the team “gain” -8 yards on nine plays over their first three drives. On the first play of UW’s fourth drive, Walker ran up the middle for four yards and the crowd gave a loud, sarcastic cheer that warmed the cockles of my cold, dead, Philadelphian heart.

• Wisconsin, as noted earlier, has been quite good at avoiding massive amounts of penalties this season, however, when they do get penalized it is almost always at a crucial juncture of the game. Now, we can debate the “chop block” penalty with Oregon fans (it was very much NOT a chop block and an awful, game-deciding call) until we’re blue in the face, but there were other miscues that cost Wisconsin yards/points.
  
  WR Bryson Green had such an egregious holding call on a long Tawee Walker run that I screamed at the TV “LET HIM GO” and Green held on to his man for at least another 10 yards. That pushed UW out of the red-zone and, as noted on the broadcast, probably should’ve pushed them back further since it was supposed to be enforced from where the hold started lmao. Wisconsin’s momentum was stalled and they settled for a field goal on that drive.
  
  It was called on OT Jack Nelson, but there were multiple offenders on the ineligible player down field on Locke’s insane, left-handed TD throw that didn’t end up counting. It’s tough to be too upset about this one as the offensive linemen had no idea what was happening behind them on the busted play.
  
  Finally, with 2:36 left in the game and the Badgers down three the Wisconsin offense took the field looking to start a season-altering drive after a touchback. Keep in mind that the UW offense had been on the sideline for over four minutes of game time at this point and, presumably, discussed what play they were going to run once they got the ball back to, again presumably, put Oregon on the back foot.
  
  Instead…they got a fucking delay of game penalty. On the first play of the drive. And it wasn’t the first time this happened this year. I just…I don’t know, dude. That’s so awful it is making me physically ill remembering it. Despite gaining six yards on first down, the Badgers still faced 3rd (and 4th) and long on this drive before punting it back to the Ducks 33 seconds later.

• I’m sure there were some things on the defensive side of the ball that Tressel wasn’t happy with, but none of them were glaring to an average d-bag watching from the couch.

There are two guaranteed games left in Wisconsin’s season and both of them are for rivalry trophies.

• Saturday, Nov. 23, at Nebraska, 2:30 p.m. CT, BTN

• Friday, Nov. 29, vs. Minnesota, 11:00 a.m. CT, CBS

Neither of those teams are particularly good, but Wisconsin is in no way above them this year. The Huskers, according to this hilarious stat provided by CBS after they lost to USC, “[have] now lost its last nine games with bowl eligibility on the line, dating back to 2016 at Indiana. Eight of those losses have come within the last two seasons.”

Wisconsin has beaten Nebraska 10 straight times with Bret Bielema, Gary Andersen, Paul Chryst, Jim Leonhard, and Luke Fickell all picking up wins over the Huskers. The Badgers are their final home opponent (they end the season at Iowa) and they will assuredly pull out all of the steps to try and get their sixth win for the first time since the 2016 season.

We’ll find out on Saturday afternoon what is more powerful: "the incredible losing stench of Nebraska since they fired Bo Pelini” or “The Curse of Phil Longo.” Either way I’m sure it will be an unappealing rock fight that even fans of the two teams in the game will hate. The Big Ten West will never die!

My Oregon pals were not happy with how the Badgers welcome the Ducks to the conference, but whatever, they still won.

It’s worth noting, while I make fun of Nebraska, that the Badgers aren’t bowl eligible yet this year either. UW has made a bowl in each of the past 22 seasons, the third longest streak in FBS, but are staring down the barrel of that ending unless they get a win over the Huskers or Gophers.

Minnesota is already bowl eligible but they will be looking to take Paul Bunyan’s Axe home with them after losing it last fall at TCF Bank (Huntington Bank? Who cares?) Stadium. After UW’s 14-game winning streak in this series ended in 2018 the two archrivals have split the last six meetings with team quality and game location being basically meaningless.

As a resident of Minnesota there are few things in my life that I want to happen less than the Gophers to win back the Axe while also denying Wisconsin bowl eligibility so, you know, get your shit together, Luke Fickell.