After a hard-fought 77-83 loss to Maryland (15-2 Big Ten, 26-3 overall) last Thursday, the Badgers (3-14, 7-20) travel to Purdue (9-8, 18-10) to find a way to generate more momentum in their last regular-season game before the Big Ten Tournament.
Last Thursday against Maryland, the Badgers played one of their most complete games of the season. Wisconsin, for one of the rare times this year, got a solid contribution from each one of their starting seniors. Nicole Bauman led the way with 23 points, and Michala Johnson, Dakota Whyte and Tessa Cichy followed with 18, 13 and nine apiece. Additionally, Wisconsin tied its best shooting performance of the season with a 51 percent field goal percentage, a mark that had only been hit once before in the first game of the season Nov. 14.
All game against Maryland, UW was fighting for the ball, diving on the floor and doing everything it could to spark an upset in enemy territory. Still, despite the multitude of areas Wisconsin showed improvement in, in comparison to the rest of the conference season, Maryland’s talent proved too much for the Badgers to handle in the end.
Fortunately for the Badgers, with the same effort and execution against a less talented Purdue team, UW should be able to complete the game and come out of West Lafayette, Ind. with a win.
When Purdue came to the Kohl Center earlier this season, the Badgers found a way to win one of their three Big Ten victories this season, 64-57.
In that victory, the Badgers showed a lot of the same characteristics as they did in their recent loss to Maryland. Against Purdue, three of the Badger seniors put up big numbers. Johnson finished the game with 18 points, along with Bauman who had 16 and Whyte who had 14. Additionally, Wisconsin shot the ball well, hitting 45 percent of their takes from the field.
Not only did Wisconsin get a solid shooting performance from multiple seniors, the Badgers did not allow Purdue to go on many runs throughout the game. Against Maryland, UW let the Terrapins go on several runs throughout the middle two quarters that created too big a gap for Wisconsin to recover.
These gaps letting games slip away from Wisconsin have been a consistent detriment to the team all year. However, in the first Purdue matchup this season, Wisconsin did not allow Purdue to dominate in any of the quarters. In fact, Wisconsin either won or tied every quarter.
Purdue, reflecting its nearly even conference record, has had a very streaky season. This conference season, Boilermakers have gone on both a five-game winning and five-game losing streak, rarely having only one win or loss in a row. Unfortunately for the Badgers, Purdue is riding a two-game win streak and is looking to extend that.
If the Badgers hope to win their last regular season game, they must play a similar game to their Maryland and first Purdue matchups. All four seniors will have to play together and efficiently, and they will have to shoot a high percentage from the field.
Throughout this season, the Badgers have continuously stated that they are simply looking to “just keep fighting.” With a series of lasts coming up for this senior group, including this last regular season game, the veteran corps will be emulating that mentality more than ever, hoping to find any momentum they can heading into the Big Ten Tournament.
