Women’s Hockey
No. 3 Wisconsin (24-3-1 WCHA, 30-3-1 overall) finished the regular season by getting swept by No. 2 Minnesota (24-3-1, 29-3-1) 4-0 Friday and 4-3 in overtime Saturday.
The Badgers host Minnesota State (0-25-3, 3-27-4) in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs this weekend, and head coach Mark Johnson is excited for the postseason to begin.
“I think as a coach, as a player, collectively as a team, it's an exciting time of year. You finished the long grind of the regular season. It certainly was a successful season,” Johnson said. “And now the opportunity to play in our playoffs. If you can win four games, you can win another championship. That's how we'll approach it as we prepare for Minnesota State, Mankato this weekend.
“Again, it's an opportunity. Instead of being a 34-game schedule, it comes down to two weekends, and really the only thing you're guaranteed is this weekend. So your mindset has to shift a little bit, and you really have to come out and try to establish something, especially early in the series,” Johnson continued.
Johnson is not taking Minnesota State lightly despite their record.
“Playing them two weekends ago, I'm sure they'll make some adjustments. They'll look at some film and try to do some things over the course of Friday's game to offset some of our strength. It's a game of chess,” Johnson said. “Our job is to play the way we're capable of playing, play at a speed we're capable of playing at and try to create some offensive opportunities. That will [be] the things we focus on this week in practice.”
Game one of the best of three series begins at 7 p.m. Friday at LaBahn Arena, with game two set for Saturday at 4 p.m. Game three (if necessary) will be Sunday at 2 p.m.
Men’s Basketball
Winner of eight of its last nine games, Wisconsin (9-5 Big Ten, 17-10 overall) continues to push toward an NCAA Tournament bid, falling on the road Thursday at No. 6 Michigan State (9-5, 22-5) 69-57 and defeating Illinois Sunday (4-10, 12-15) 69-60 at home.
Head coach Greg Gard thought his team gained confidence in the second half against Illinois as shots were beginning to fall.
“I thought offensively for us to go from 0.74 [scoring efficiency] the first half to 1.5 the second half and obviously gain some confidence by seeing the ball go in, not only at the free-throw line, but I think having post players finish plays around the rim, have the ball go through, and all that confidence and positive energy that generates helps everybody else on the team too,” Gard said
The Badgers’ head coach was impressed with the way his team responded to adversity in the second half against Illinois.
“To struggle offensively and still be able to bounce back and find a way to get things done and get a lot of positive things accomplished the last ten minutes showed me a lot in terms of their resolve, and I mentioned that last night, in terms of how they've grown, the toughness, the togetherness,” Gard said. “Maybe early in the year they have that type of a shooting night, and the wheels would have fell off.”
The Badgers head to Iowa City, Iowa, Wednesday night to face No. 8 Iowa (11-3, 20-6) and former UW player Jarrod Uthoff.
Gard is not surprised with the senior’s success.
“He's turned into a terrific player, we thought, obviously. That's why we recruited him. He's gone on to have a fantastic career at Iowa and done really well. I'm not surprised. He really showed signs of that the year he redshirted here.
“That's a credit to him for how he's had a handle—I'm sure transferring is not easy. Obviously, there was a lot made of that at the time. That's water under the bridge now. Like I said, for Jarrod to do what he's done back in his home state and the season they've had, obviously, he's a big part of it, and he deserves credit for that, how he's persevered and continued to work and has really gotten better as his career has gone on,” Gard said.
Game time at Iowa is set for 8 p.m.
UW finishes up its home schedule with Senior Day at the Kohl Center, hosting Michigan (9-6 Big Ten, 19-9 overall) Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
Women’s Basketball
It was another tough week for Wisconsin (3-13 Big Ten, 7-19 overall), as it dropped home games to Illinois (2-13, 9-17) 67-57 and Northwestern (4-12, 15-13) 71-53.
Despite UW’s struggles, head coach Bobbie Kelsey is pleased with the improvement her team has made in reducing turnovers.
“Oh, yeah, that's key. You have to be able to keep the ball secured, not give it to the other team because we don't have a lot of depth,” Kelsey said. “Like I said, our margin of error is very slim. We're trying to make sure that we don't give the ball back quickly or just carelessly. You have to take care of it. You have to give yourself an opportunity on every possession to get a shot off.”
With the postseason approaching, Kelsey is looking at ways to get her team’s offense going.
“That's a good question. Because Nicole [Bauman] has paid attention to a whole lot more than she has in the past, [Michala Johnson] has not been as consistent, not that threat she was before her injury. I think, when you don't have two or three people that they have to guard, it makes it harder for the ones they do have to guard. Dakota [Whyte]'s been covered, but she's shown what she can do.”
Kelsey stressed the importance of getting her core playmakers in a groove.
“But you've got to get them scoring at the same time. You have a game or two where one will score and the other two -- I call them the big three -- Mic, Dakota, and Nicole,” Kelsey said. “If we can get them scoring at the same time, then you've got to cover a post player and two guards. Which one of them is your point guard? But they have not been able to score at the same time. I'm trying to figure out why not.
“We have plays to get Mic the ball in certain situations, Nicole the ball in certain situations, Dakota the ball. But some of that falls on players. They have to come ready to play and be confident that they are a threat. Sometimes when the shots aren't going right away, they kind of get a little down about whether they can make those shots. We're always trying to lift them, 'Hey, you've done it before. We've seen it. Let's score here and get it done again.'”
While Kelsey will certainly be leaning on her top performers to step up, she knows the entirety of the roster needs to contribute for Wisconsin to finish out the year on a positive note.
“I think that would be helpful if we can get those three, and then whoever can add on top of those three. You know, every team has a three, big three, I call them, that you have to pay attention to,” Kelsey said. “You can name three on each team in our conference, and you have to do that. We've just got to get ours playing at the same time, and I think that's been a problem with the consistency.”
The Badgers hit the road for match-ups with No. 6 Maryland (14-2 Big Ten, 25-3 overall) Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. and Purdue (8-8 Big Ten, 17-10 overall) Sunday at 1 p.m.
Men’s Hockey
Wisconsin (1-10-3 Big Ten, 6-15-7 overall) finished an eight-game homestand by getting swept by Michigan State (5-10-1, 9-20-3) 4-3 Friday and 3-1 Saturday.
Head coach Mike Eaves believes that despite the record, his team is showing improvement.
“It's interesting, over the last 24 hours I've had several people, alumni, guys that know hockey, reach out and said they saw the games this weekend and said we deserve better.
“We're doing good things. Sometimes that's an important message to carry to the kids because they, as we do, are measured by wins and losses, and the fact that people are reaching out to say, hey, you're doing good things and you've just got to keep pounding away is a message that we'll carry to our kids today and get back to work and keep forging the kind of hockey team we want to become,” Eaves said.
The Badgers head on the road to play a weekend series against Ohio State (4-8-2, 9-17-2).
Eaves knows that Ohio State will take advantage of scoring chances when given the opportunity.
“They're a team that can get up and down the ice. They get spanked on Friday night at Penn State and come back and win 7-4. They have the ability to play wide open. If you're sloppy, they can score. They're opportunistic, and they can score,” Eaves said. “We need to continue to do what we've been doing and preaching about playing the right way, playing hard and smart as a team to give ourselves to keep forging ourselves into the type of team we want to be.”
The puck drops Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m.
Swimming and Diving
The Wisconsin Swimming and Diving team continues to prepare to compete in the Big Ten Championships Feb. 24-27 in West Lafayette, Ind.
Head coach Whitney Hite is excited to continue to build the program, citing Michigan and Indiana as the gold standard.
“Michigan has won National Championships and have a very, very good coaching staff, both Indiana and Michigan. That's who we're aiming for. We're not quite there yet, but we're a heck of a lot more competitive than we have been in the past,” Hite said.
“That's really kind of our focus on making sure that we compete, making sure that we get the right people to the meet. The NCAA Championship's our next ultimate step in making sure that we're doing everything we need to do to ensure success at the right time.”
Hite also praised junior Matt Hutchins’ progression.
“Matt continues to improve. It's been really fun to watch. A lot of times, when you watch him swim, it looks like he's not really trying because he's so smooth. Then you look at the time, and you're thinking, man, this kid is really moving,” Hite said.
“To say I'm surprised that going into last weekend he had the top time in the mile in the nation, not really surprised, a little bit, but I do know that the sky's the limit on that kid. He works really hard. I've really had to kind of re-evaluate how I coach and some of the sets that I've given him. So he's challenged me in that way,” Hite said.
Track and Field
Coming off the Red and White Open, the Wisconsin Track and Field team continues its preparations for the Big Ten Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday in Geneva, Ohio.
Director Mick Byrne feels good about his team’s preparation.
“We always look to January and February as we head into the Big Ten meet,” Byrne said. “I feel we've had a great mix of competitions, different types of competitions to prepare us for this weekend. Certainly, when we go back to January, the two dual meets were a lot of fun. Great to go head to head against Notre Dame and certainly going up to Minnesota for the dual against Minnesota. That was an exciting meet. A lot of fans showed up for that meet and just a different format.
“To be honest, I think they're the type of meets, those dual meets or tri meets that really prepare our student athletes for competitions like the Big Ten where times, height and distances don't really matter. It's all about competition. Let's face it, that's what the Big Ten is about.”
The Badgers are looking to rely on their leaders.
“In terms of the Big Ten meet, certainly, it's all about points scoring. It's all about head-to-head competition,” Byrne said. “We're going to look to our people that perform throughout the entire season to step up to the plate and hopefully give us some big points.”
Byrne sees lots of opportunities for his team at the Big Ten Championships.
“There's a variety of points for us to score, and hopefully this whole group is in the first group when you look at the broad range of events that we're covering,” Byrne said. “So we're excited about getting out there this weekend, getting after it, and hopefully score some big points.”
