Throughout the Badgers’ (2-4 Big Ten, 6-10 overall) season, when the team finds itself trailing, it usually finds a way to wage a tenacious and heartfelt effort to climb its way back into games. However, despite Wisconsin’s frequent comeback attempts, it often comes up just short. The Badgers’ game against Illinois (1-5, 9-9,) Sunday, their sixth Big Ten matchup of the year, was a microcosm of this season-long trend, as they fought their way back into the contest but ultimately lost 71-65.
Almost immediately after tip-off, the Fighting Illini grabbed an early lead. Just a couple minutes into the game, Illinois had a 10-0 advantage and the Badgers looked completely out of sync. Still, after head coach Bobbie Kelsey took a timeout, the Badgers rallied off seven straight points, and were right back in the game.
After that point, the Fighting Illini started imposing their will, and they took a 12-point lead into the final quarter. Illinois led by as much as 15 in the final frame, but the Badgers found a way to rally and cut the lead to just five with a couple minutes to go. However, the Badger’s struggles at both ends of the floor allowed Illinois to create too large of a lead for the Badgers to overcome.
Defensively, UW struggled to defend the 3-point line throughout the middle chunk of the game. In the second quarter, when the Badgers switched to their 2-3 zone, the Fighting Illini took advantage of the loose perimeter defense and seemingly could not miss from behind the arc.
Even when the Badgers switched back to man-to-man defense in the third quarter, Illinois continued to hit from behind the line. Illinois eventually started to cool down from behind the arc, but its ability to hit the deep ball in the middle of the game created too large of a gap for the Badgers to rebound from.
Offensively, the Badgers struggled from all over the floor. The team shot just 36 percent from the field in the game and 26 percent from behind the arc. Instead of driving to the lane and moving the ball to get open, high-percentage shots, the Badgers continuously settled for contested 3-pointers. The Badgers continually shot 3’s from well-behind the arc with time remaining on the shot clock. Even more concerning, the Badgers’ dependable shooters were the ones continuously missing the mark throughout the contest.
Senior guard Nicole Bauman finished with a misleading stat line. Even though the team leader finished with 17 points and 42 percent shooting from beyond the arc, she continuously missed shots in the second and third quarters when Illinois created its largest leads. Bauman did make two consecutive 3-pointers at the end of the game, but she did not do enough in the middle frames to keep the game tight.
Similarly, senior guard Dakota Whyte did not put up her best effort either. Whyte has been the Badgers’ best player in conference play so far, averaging over 15 points per game, but against Illinois, Whyte could not get to the lane and finish with her right hand at the basket like she normally does. She finished with only eight points on the night.
Despite the poor effort from the more dependable players, sophomore guard Cayla McMorris continues to improve with more playing time. The young guard kept the team in the game, making big shots when the Badgers needed it. McMorris finished with a strong 16 points on nearly 60 percent shooting.
In their next game, the Badgers take on Maryland, which is 16-2 overall and 5-1 in the Big Ten. If the Badgers want to pull off the upset, they will need their stars like Bauman and Whyte to consistently knock down shots and continue to get big performances out of their younger players like McMorris.
