The Wisconsin women's basketball team (3-13 Big Ten, 11-18 overall) will need a win against Illinois (9-7, 16-12) to keep their season alive. History is not on the side of the Badgers, as they have lost to the Illini all three times they have met up in the Big Ten tournament and have lost the teams' two meetings this season.
Illinois leads the conference in steals per game and turnover margin. "Obviously that's a big point of emphasis for us, to take care of the ball,"head coach Bobbie Kelsey said during Tuesday's Big Ten teleconference. "They do a nice job of getting their hands on the ball, especially if you hold on to it too long or don't make a good passing decision."
"It is always difficult playing a team for the third time, but our kids are excited," Illinois head coach Matt Bollant said at the teleconference. "[Junior guard] Morgan Paige is one of the better players in the conference. They are long defensively, they keep you in front and make you shoot from the outside. A lot of times their games are lower scoring so we have to grind it out."
The season awards for the Big Ten were announced Monday and two Badgers were acknowledged. Paige was named to the third-team All-Big Ten and sophomore forward Jacki Gulczynski received honorable mention All-Big Ten honors.
Both Paige and Gulczynski started all 29 games and were the only two players to do so. Paige ended the regular season averaging 16.1 points per game and Gulczynski with 12.6. Junior forward Cassie Rochel led the Big Ten in blocks per game with 2.64 including a career high seven blocks against No. 18 Purdue on 2/14.
Due to persistent injuries, Wisconsin has had to rely on its key players to log a lot of minutes game in and game out. "It is probably a lot more mentally difficult than it is physically," Kelsey said. "It's not so much physically because the kids are in really good shape, but a lot of times they need a break mentally. It's hard for me to sub them out, if things are difficult then we might switch to a zone so they don't have to chase players around."
The Badgers started the season with 12 active players on the roster and now they are down to nine. One of the biggest losses came in the form of back surgery for senior guard Taylor Wurtz. She lead the team in scoring last season with 16.3 points per game and started all 28 games for the Badgers.
However, Kelsey does not want to use the injuries this season as an excuse. "It is what we have been dealt," she said. "It's hard, but again everyone has injuries. We just don't have as much depth to back up these injuries where some people have 16 people, we don't necessarily have that situation."
The game will take place around 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon and the winner will move on to play No. 3 seeded Purdue.
