After the Wisconsin Badgers’ (3-13 Big Ten , 7-19 overall) 90-65 blowout home loss to the Maryland Terrapins in early January, junior power forward Avyanna Young called junior Maryland center Brionna Jones, “probably the best player” she had ever defended after the Terrapins center tallied 22 points and nine rebounds on Young and UW’s frontcourt.
And while both Jones and Young are juniors for their respective teams, most of the Badgers’ core is graduating and, after an emotional 71-53 loss to Northwestern on Senior Day, Wisconsin hopes to regroup and finish its season on a high note.
The challenge begins Thursday at Maryland for senior guard Dakota Whyte and her teammates. Whyte, a native of Ajax, Ontario, has a future of basketball ahead of her with the Canadian national team, but admits finishing this season strong is of the utmost importance to her.
“Knowing that I have three or four more games left makes me want to just leave it out on the floor. In terms of motivation, you never go down as a quitter. You never go down not fighting. You never go down not doing what you love,” Whyte said. “And especially since the whole world is going to see your last four games and what are they going to remember you by.”
While Whyte acknowledges the excessive amount of losses her senior class has suffered, head coach Bobbie Kelsey has preached this senior class is laying down the groundwork for a prosperous future.
That logic hasn’t swayed Whyte, who still is displeased with every defeat.
“Losing [is the biggest challenge],” she said. “More this year than last because at the beginning of this season we set very high goals for ourselves. We thought ‘new year, new page.’ To be in a similar position is hard. You that think your senior you’re going to go out with a bang. But that’s the hardest thing for me. Losing consistently is very hard.”
Even on theoretically congratulatory Senior Day, the Badgers’ loss stung more with Whyte than a normal defeat.
“I cared about the game more than anything. I think that’s why I was so emotional,” Whyte said. “Because even on the most special night in here, we still can’t manage to hold it together. But my mom just reminded me it’s a game, and although she was trying to calm me down at dinner, that’s all I could think about.”
Senior guard Nicole Bauman echoed Whyte’s sentiment more than an hour after the game concluded.
“It’s a sentimental day. But in the end you just want to win the game. That’s really all that is on your mind. Obviously we weren’t able to do that today, which makes it harder,” Bauman said.
UW is facing a Maryland team that last year, in their debut season in the Big Ten, won the conference with an undefeated record. The Terps though didn’t stop there, advancing to their second consecutive Final Four.
And though Maryland has lost twice to Ohio State in Big Ten play as well as once to national title favorite UConn, the Terps have still dominated most everyone in the conference.
But even with an uphill battle, the Badgers hope to fight on, refocus, and try to pull out a victory.
“We have to bring our absolute best game every time. To close out, you do want to finish strong. That's always the goal, to finish as strong as possible.” Kelsey said.
