In their penultimate game at the Kohl Center this season, Wisconsin (3-13 Big Ten, 7-18 overall) looked to seek revenge against an Illinois team (2-13, 9-17) whose lone win this conference season came against the Badgers in a close 71-65 game in Urbana-Champaign.
But despite having a better record and a home-court advantage, Wisconsin could not find a way to pull out a victory this time around either, falling to the Fighting Illini 76-56.
“We’re disappointed in the way we played tonight,” UW head coach Bobbie Kelsey said after the game. ”We couldn’t really buy a basket, and they seemed like they couldn’t miss. Everything they threw up pretty much went in.”
Highlighting Kelsey’s sentiment, the Badgers ultimately allowed Illinois to shoot 54 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc. It seemed like no matter what they did defensively, Illinois had an answer.
Over the course of the game, Wisconsin tried a myriad of different defensive looks, all exploited by Illinois offense. In the first quarter, the Badgers came out in a 2-3 zone, which Illinois had not seen much of this year. For most of the first frame, this strategy worked, as UW got out of the first quarter only allowing 13 points. However, as the first quarter was expiring and the second quarter started to unfold, the Fighting Illini hit three deep threes and forced the Badgers out of their briefly successful zone.
As the second quarter progressed, Wisconsin tried to play more active defense, and switched to man-to-man to try and stymie the Illinois shooting parade. Unfortunately for the Badgers, this strategy only exacerbated their defensive issues, as Illinois ultimately outscored UW by 18 in the second quarter alone, and consequently took a 38-25 lead into the half.
“They hit from all over the place,” Kelsey said. “It didn’t really matter what we were in.”
The Badgers even tried to play in a full-court press during the second half, a defense that they have been reluctant to run all season. Even though the Badgers did force turnovers off this defense, they still left their opponents open for easy transition buckets throughout the second half of the game.
“At times it looked good, but at times we let them get behind us” Kelsey said of the press. “We don’t have the depth to press.”
Zone, man or press, Wisconsin’s biggest nightmare defensively was sophomore center Chartrice White. Not only did she dominate inside the paint, but the 6-foot-3 center also went 4 of 6 from 3-point range, beating the Badgers inside and outside. White finished the first half alone with 20 points (matching the UW’s first-half total), and had 28 overall with 13 rebounds.
Despite the evident inability to contain the Fighting Illini shooters, the Badgers’ inability to shoot the ball themselves proved to be a bigger problem in the team’s third consecutive loss. Wisconsin couldn’t buy a basket all night, shooting only 35 percent from the field and 27 percent from three.
The first problem resulting in the Badgers’ lack of offensive efficiency stemmed from their inability to attack their opponents 2-3 zone. They lack much of an inside presence, resulting in forced shots from way behind the arc.
“We’ve had zones played against us already, but we couldn’t find a hole to get it close enough to the basket,” Kelsey said. “We settled for too many threes.”
Even when Wisconsin did find a way to get open looks, it could not knock the shots down.
“Our shots weren’t falling,” Kelsey said. “It’s not that we weren’t getting looks, they just weren’t going in.”
Additionally, the Badgers’ inability to get more than one of their senior players to have simultaneous good games has been a big contributing factor in their poor play all year round. Against Illinois, this same story rewrote itself with even more statistical discrepancy.
Out of the three seniors that are expected to carry the offense, Dakota Whyte was the only one that put up good numbers. Nicole Bauman only had 11 points (on 4-for-14 shooting), and Michala Johnson only had six.
Despite of the rest of her team’s inefficiency, senior guard Dakota Whyte did have her best night of the season. Whyte finished the game with 31 points, 10 above her previous career high. Additionally, the senior guard only had one turnover on the night, which is a huge improvement in a category that she has struggled with this season.
“When the ball’s in your hands a lot you don’t have a reason to throw it away,” Whyte said. “It’s something that’s new for me, but taking care of the ball is something that coach emphasizes in practice.”
Still, even with Whyte’s efforts, no one else on the team did enough to complement her offensive explosion.
“You need to have more than one person,” Kelsey said. “Another guard has got to step up. You need at least two guards that they have to guard.”
Kelsey was referring specifically to Bauman, the sharp shooter who usually carries the load offensively. Bauman had her second consecutive poor shooting night, not finding her range from behing the 3-point line. The senior guard has previously been known for consistency, but has struggled to find her shot over certain patches of the season.
Bauman’s coaches are just as surprised as many of the fans as to her lack of recent consistency.
“I don’t know,” Kelsey said. “She’s in the gym. She hasn’t had many slumps in her career. A lot of pressures on her. She’s not just open.”
Still, in typical Bauman fashion, the senior guard did not hang her head after the loss, but was instead back on the court 20 minutes after game time working on her pull-up jumper, hoping to end her frustrating drought.
Even though Bauman and the rest of the team try to remain positive, they are clearly still relentlessly searching for answers all the way down the bench.
“It’s very frustrating,” Kelsey admitted. “We try not to show it. We try to remain very classy and professional. It is frustrating.”
The Badgers have one final game at the Kohl Center this weekend, and will look to end that frustration with one final win on their home court for their seniors.
