WBB: Wisconsin wanders aimlessly through seventh straight loss
The hot-shooting Huskers put this one away by halftime, leaving the Badgers looking for that elusive second Big Ten win.
In what was assuredly the most consequential collegiate sporting event on Monday night, the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team got run off the court by the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 91-60. It was Wisconsin’s seventh straight loss and dropped them to 10-9 overall on the season.
There wasn’t a ton of good stuff to talk about, but let’s try to find some anyways! Here is my full recap and analysis:
Final Score
Wisconsin Badgers (10-9 overall, 1-7 Big Ten): 60
Nebraska Cornhuskers (15-4 overall, 6-2 Big Ten): 91
Four Factors
eFG%: 40.2
Turnover%: 21.4
Off. Rebound%: 36.4
FTA/FGA: 16.7
Key Stats
FG%: 37.9 (25-of-66)
Opp. FG%: 54.2 (32-of-59)
3P%: 17.6 (3-of-17)
Opp. 3P%: 50.0 (16-of-32)
FT%: 63.6 (7-of-11)
Opp. FT%: 91.7 (11-of-12)
Points Per Possession: 0.857
Opponent Points Per Possession: 1.358
Rebounds: 33 (16 offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 38 (10 offensive)
Turnovers: 15
Forced Turnovers: 15
Team Leaders
Ronnie Porter: 11 points (4-of-7 FG, 0-of-1 3P), five rebounds (one offensive), six assists, one steal, -22
Serah Williams: 20 points (9-of-23 FG, 0-of-1 3P), eight rebounds (four offensive), three assists, -22
Carter McCray: 14 points (7-of-10 FG), six rebounds (four offensive), -22
Tess Myers: three points (1-of-4 FG, 1-of-4 3P), three rebounds, three assists, -17
Nebraska Team Leaders
Kendall Moriarty: 17 points (6-of-8 FG, 3-of-4 3P), four rebounds (two offensive), three assists, one block, one steal, +17
Jessica Petrie: 15 points (6-of-8 FG, 3-of-4 3P), seven rebounds, three assists, +21
Britt Prince: 14 points (3-of-7 FG, 2-of-5 3P), seven rebounds (one offensive), two assists, three steals, +18
Three-ish Thoughts
The Badgers debuted an interesting 1-2-2 press after made baskets that seemed to give Nebraska a little trouble in the first half. The Huskers turned it over nine times in the first two periods, a number of which were directly because of UW’s press.
It was a nice wrinkle by Marisa Moseley, but they’ll probably need to continue to practice it because when Nebraska beat it, they ended up with WIIIIDE open looks from three. I would love to see Leena Patibandla get some run as the “1” in this press because her length could cause teams some trouble.There is something in the world of basketball analysis that is called “three-point shooting variance” and it basically says that teams who are shooting poorly from three will eventually shoot better and vice versa. Wisconsin’s shooting display on Monday is the textbook example of a regression to the mean.
The Badgers shot 12-of-29 from deep against Ohio State in their last game but proceeded to miss their first 11 attempts from beyond the arc against Nebraska. The first make for UW didn’t come until the literal halftime buzzer as Tess Myers delivered a nice pump fake and nailed the open look after her defender flew off screen.
Nebraska, on the other hand, is going in the other direction. After shooting 3-of-22 from deep against Rutgers two games ago, the Huskers went 13-of-30 last game and a sizzling 16-of-32 against Wisconsin. The 16 makes was a record for Pinnacle Bank Arena and eight different Huskers made a trey.
Sometimes it just isn’t your night shooting the ball.In a fun coincidence, Wisconsin also didn’t shoot well close to the basket. While Nebraska was 12-of-14 on layups, the Badgers made one fewer on five more attempts (11-of-19). This may come as a shock to you, but Wisconsin also didn’t shoot well from the mid-range!
Halle Douglass was listed as “questionable” before the game but did not suit up. Tessa Grady also remains out.
With Douglass out, and the game out of reach well before the fourth quarter, a number of different players received minutes on Monday. Freshman Jovana Spasovski played 17 minutes and classmates Gracie Grzesk and Alie Bisballe recorded 11 and seven respectively.
Leena Patibandla and Alba Martin Mesa even saw three minutes apiece at the end of the game. Lily Krahn (19 minutes) struggled in this one, going 0-of-4 from beyond the arc, and D’Yanis Jimenez (three minutes) only saw limited action. It’s nice to see some younger players get a little run, but it probably would’ve served everyone better if this happened earlier in the season.QUICK THOUGHTS: Wisconsin looked good on the offensive glass; Bisballe has a nice handle for someone that is 6-foot-4; my wife was absolutely flabbergasted that Nebraska star freshman Britt Prince plays with her hair down; the Huskers run an aesthetically pleasing offense (27 assists on 32 made baskets!)
Final Thought
I’ve been trying to think about what to write here since the game ended 19ish hours ago but I’m still coming up blank. Here is what I wrote after the Ohio State loss last week:
I’m not sure what to make of these games, though. Is it a legitimate turning of a corner and Wisconsin is prepared to surprise a few teams down the stretch? Or, is it a case of Wisconsin Football-itis where you can get up for big home games against ranked teams (see: vs. Oregon and Penn State) but phone it in against “lesser” teams who still beat your ass (see: Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota).
Well, losing by 31 to an unranked Nebraska after playing two close-ish games against top-10 teams seems to answer my question. Now, to be clear, the Huskers are clearly a more talented team than the Badgers and they SHOULD win by double digits, especially at home. But it’s the way that these game just languidly turn into blowouts that’s concerning.
With 7:49 to go in the second quarter, the Badgers were down two points. When UW called timeout with 3:52 remaining in the period, they were down 17. The Huskers went on a 15-0 run and there was nothing Wisconsin could do about it. Moseley called a timeout when the run was 8-0 but nothing changed. By the time she called another timeout at 15-0, the game was out of reach and everyone could’ve just gone home at halftime.
A Border Battle road clash with the 23rd ranked Gophers awaits Wisconsin on Sunday and, sadly, due to a prior commitment (the Eagles being in the NFC Championship Game) I will not be in attendance. Minnesota has won five of their last six games, the only loss being a seven point defeat at Maryland, and are sitting pretty at 17-2 on the year. They beat the Badgers by nine at the Kohl Center on New Year’s Eve and nothing that has happened since leads me to believe this one will be any closer.
Next Game: Sunday, Jan. 26; at No. 23 Minnesota Golden Gophers; 2:00 p.m. CT; B1G+; Williams Arena; Minneapolis
With the way things are (or aren't) going at this point, you have to wonder about Moseley's "job security".