Women's Basketball
The Wisconsin women's basketball team (3-11 Big Ten, 11-16 overall) hosts Senior Night against No. 20 Nebraska (11-3, 21-6) on Thursday followed by a trip to Michigan State (8-5, 20-6) on Sunday to finish the regular season.
The team is coming off a disappointing loss to Northwestern on Saturday. Head coach Bobbie Kelsey cited “mental lapses on defense” as a major reason for the defeat but also noted a missed chance at the end of the game to tie or even pull ahead.
Kelsey would later explain the team's woes in close games, where they have fallen short. “It's calling the right play at the right time at the right person," she said. "It's (the team) understanding the scouting report and making sure they know shooters you can't leave, certain people you can, you take a chance. Some of that is the other team stepping up. The ones you do leave, they get a shot or two, and it turns around.”
Tiera Stephen will be the only senior recognized at Thursday's game and was praised at the conference by Kelsey. “Her leadership and her ability to get us in the offense when things are kind of breaking down, she really does a nice job of that. She's come a long way. She really has. I'm proud of her.“
Men's Basketball
The men's basketball team (10-4 Big Ten, 19-8 overall) will play its final two home games this week, hosting Nebraska (4-10, 13-15) tomorrow night followed by Senior Day against Purdue (6-8, 13-14) on Sunday.
Head coach Bo Ryan praised the perserverance of his three seniors (Jared Berggren, Mike Bruesewitz, Ryan Evans). “If you take a look at a combination of things, Jared with the troubles with his shoulder, finally had it taken care of, definitely helped him. Mike, what he's been through. Ryan with some struggles that he's still working on, they're all working on things.”
“It's a great part about college athletics... next 60, 70 years, you're going to be going through some of the same things. Maybe not the exact issues, but there's always light at the end of the tunnel. You keep, working, keep doing the right things, good things will happen.”
Ryan also commended the two seniors on the scout team, Dan Fahey and J.D. Wise. “There's never a whine, never a complaint, never anything other than to the assistant coaches that have the particular scout on that team, it's like, okay, what would you like us to do today?“
Hopefully, they're getting as much out of the experience as we're receiving from their efforts that they're putting in,” Ryan said. "But those two young men have been doing it for a long time, and they've never changed. And they're better basketball players, and they're better people as a result of their experience, I think. So it's a covey win-win."
