WBB Recap: Wisconsin races away from the Raiders in second half to secure first win
The Badgers are 1-0 and you love to see it!
On Tuesday night, the Wisconsin Badgers took down the Wright State Raiders, 95-68, in the first game of the season for both teams. Serah Williams recorded her 23rd career double-double and Ronnie Porter scored a career-high 19 points to lead UW to an, eventually, easy victory. Here are all of the stats and analysis you could possibly need!
Final Score
Wisconsin Badgers (1-0 overall): 95
Wright State Raiders (0-1 overall): 68
Four Factors
eFG%: 51.9
Turnover%: 9.1
Off. Rebound%: 34.0
FTA/FGA: 26.6
Key Stats
FG%: 45.6 (36-of-79)
Opp. FG%: 37.3 (22-of-59)
3P%: 37.0 (10-of-27)
Opp. 3P%: 25.0 (6-of-24)
FT%: 61.9 (13-of-21)
Opp. FT%: 62.1 (18-of-29)
Points Per Possession: 1.234
Opponent Points Per Possession: 0.895
Rebounds: 52 (16 offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 38 (seven offensive)
Turnovers: seven (!!!)
Forced Turnovers: 13
Team Leaders
Ronnie Porter: 19 points (7-of-13 FG, 2-of-5 3P), six rebounds, three assists, three steals, +15
Serah Williams: 29 points (11-of-21 FG, 1-of-2 3P), 12 rebounds (five offensive), one assist, four blocks, two steals, +18
Tess Myers: 12 points (4-of-10 FG, 3-of-5 3P), three rebounds (one offensive), one assist, +18
Halle Douglass: eight points (4-of-5 FG, 0-of-1 3P), 11 rebounds (six offensive), three assists, one steal, +11
Wright State Point Team Leaders
Makiya Miller: 22 points (6-of-12 FG, 3-of-5 3P), six rebounds (one offensive), two assists, -13
Claire Henson: 12 points (4-of-13 FG, 1-of-3 3P), four rebounds, one block, one steal, -21
Three-ish Thoughts
Anyone who has followed this Badgers team under Marisa Moseley know that they have had one BIG problem they can’t seem to fix…and that’s turnovers. On Tuesday, they only had seven turnovers and only one of those came in the second half! Those are incredible numbers for any team, let alone one that has struggled to take care of the basketball for years and hasn’t had this few miscues since the 2022 season.
Starting point guard Ronnie Porter played a team-high 31 minutes and had zero turnovers. Serah Williams touched the ball on every possession and also had zero turnovers. It was, to say the least, an extremely promising showing for WisconsinSpeaking of Serah Williams, she was even more dominant than I hoped in game one of the year. She poured in 29 points, hauled in a dozen rebounds, and protected the rim with tenacity. In a welcome development, Williams scored her first three baskets via jumpers at, or near, the free throw line.
She is obviously a terror in the post, but one of the knocks against her was she wasn’t a threat outside of the paint. Well, against the Raiders Williams was confident in her jumper and quick to shoot it if given space. She also made one of her two three-point attempts, another arrow in her quiver of offensive weapons to keep opponents guessing.
In the second half, after Williams had already made four of those foul line jumpers, she pump faked on one and her defender went flying by her and Williams had an empty lane to rumble down for a layup. While she ended up missing the layup (sigh) it still showed proof of concept that having a reliable jumper will open up so many things for Wisconsin’s offense.Wisconsin’s freshman class placed near the bottom of the Big Ten in recruiting rankings this year, but they are already punching above their weight. Serbian wing Jovana Spasovski earned the start (as she did in the exhibition game too), 6-foot-4 post Alie Bisballe showed off some advanced offensive moves in late-game action, and in-state guard Gracie Grezsk attacked the basket and pulled down a couple of rebounds in limited action. I really like what I’ve seen from these first-year players and hopefully they continue to get playing time throughout the season.
After Marisa Moseley’s first season at the helm in Madison I conducted a lengthy interview with her and one of the things she discussed was how she wanted to play faster and get out and run more, she just didn’t have the horses yet. In D’Yanis Jimenez and Ronnie Porter, Moseley has a pair of dynamic fastbreak players that can help UW get easy buckets.
Jimenez is a bit more, let’s say “adventurous,” with the ball in the open court, but her aggression in getting down hill on Tuesday night drew fouls and drew attention so that she could kick the ball out to open teammates. If Jimenez can harness some of her frantic energy (five fouls, two turnovers, three rebounds, three steals, one three-pointer, all in only 12 minutes) she’ll find a ton of success this year going at other teams’ bench units.
Junior shooting guard Lily Krahn, a former top-100 recruit, hasn’t had the success in Madison many were expecting yet. However, she looked confident shooting the ball on Tuesday night and tied a career-high with eight points. She did not do it efficiently (3-of-11 FG, 2-of-8 3P) but she didn’t let that keep her from launching when open. Good shooters have short memories and always believe the next one is going in and, to be honest, Wisconsin lacks volume three-point shooters in a way many other teams don’t.
Bringing in transfer sharpshooter Tess Myers was the main way Moseley tried to up UW’s three-point attempts, and she will, but she’ll also be important in mentoring a player like Krahn. I noticed that Myers pulled Krahn aside after a missed three to gas her up a bit and that is wonderful to see. Krahn was +12 in 21 minutes and if she can be a valuable scoring option off the bench, Wisconsin’s depth will be greatly improved.Getting a grasp on what Moseley’s rotation will look like this year is impossible after one game, but it seemed like younger players had a longer leash than in past seasons. We’ll see if that continues as the games get tougher.
Carter McCray didn’t have a huge game on the stat sheet, and struggled defending in space, but her boxing out ability opened things up for players like Williams to crash the boards and that’s a valuable, selfless skill.
Final Thought
Look, was this a perfect game for Wisconsin? No, obviously not. HOWEVAH, I think it went about as perfectly as the Badgers could’ve hoped for. They got out to a strong start, took Wright State’s best punch in the second quarter, and then put the pedal to the metal and blew out an inferior opponent by 27 points. Pretty sure Marisa Moseley will take that every day of the week.
UW had nine players play double-digit minutes, and only one played more than 30, and 14 players saw the floor. Only walk-on freshman Reese Jaramillo, who wasn’t listed on the injury report or anything before the game, didn’t record a minute played.
As a team, the Badgers shot well from the field and from deep. They definitely need to keep practicing free throws, but it didn’t matter in this game. They crashed the boards, they played team defense, they took care of the ball…again, things looked nice!
We’ll learn a ton more about Wisconsin over their next two games, home against Georgetown and on the road against South Dakota State, but they’ve got the ball rolling in the right direction.
Next Game: Sunday, Nov. 10; vs. Georgetown Hoyas; 4:00 p.m. CT; B1G+; Kohl Center