Senior forward Nigel Hayes received some important advice yesterday from an unlikely source hours before his Badgers faced off against Oklahoma. “Play hard, aggressive, find your teammates,” Hayes’ mother told him on a phone call prior to UW’s matchup against the Oklahoma Sooners Saturday afternoon.
Once again, the Badgers dug themselves into an early hole. Slow starts have plagued Wisconsin all season, and they have not been able to recover.
Non-conference games at the beginning of a season present a unique challenge—teams face opponents that they don’t know nearly as well as their annual conference foes.
If there is one lesson to be learned from the first two rounds of the 2016 NCAA tournament, it is that Wisconsin’s defense succumbs to no one. One night after holding its first round opponent Howard to an abysmal .050 hitting percentage in a winning effort Thursday at home, Wisconsin’s defense continued to dominate, as the No. 3-seeded Badgers (17-3 Big Ten, 28-4 overall) dismantled the Washington State Cougars (12-9 Pac-12, 22-13 overall) in a 25-18, 25-18, 25-17 sweep at the Field House Friday night. Wisconsin stymied Washington State from top to bottom, shutting the Cougars down at every turn.
The No. 17 Wisconsin Badgers (6-2) might have returned more than 99 percent of their scoring and minutes this season, but stability in their roster construction has not translated to stability in the team’s rotation. While the Badgers’ bench has been incredibly productive early on this season, through eight games, five different Badgers have been the first reserve to enter a game, be it alone or alongside another teammate. Junior guard Jordan Hill and sophomore forward Alex Illikainen were the first Badgers to enter UW’s season opener against Central Arkansas.
Head coach Tony Granato stood back-to-back with Ryan Wagner after practice and asked the group of reporters who was taller.
The most successful football coaches are the ones who put their players in the best possible position to produce.
This week's Cardinal Zone Podcasts previews the Big Ten Championship between Wisconsin and Penn State.
The Badgers were all business Thursday night, as they treated their fans to a dominating performance in the first round of the NCAA Tourney.
Facing a 22-point deficit coming into the second half, the Badgers showed no signs of life, as North Carolina put on a clinic of a first half, doing damage on both sides of the floor.
Playing mostly a backup role, outside of one start in the game at UW-Milwaukee, sophomore forward Marsha Howard has been a sparkplug for this young Badgers team. Wisconsin (2-5) has been struggling to find its identity all season. After a pair of early losses, a down-to-the-wire loss against Saint Francis and a close victory over Butler University, the Badgers don’t necessarily possess the record they wish they did.
The Badgers (17-3 Big Ten, 25-4 overall) are headed to their fourth straight NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed, the highest seeding in program history, behind the coaching of Kelly Sheffield and the leadership of senior Lauren Carlini. The two came to Madison at the same time back in 2013 and led the team to a national championship appearance, and they hope to one-up that accomplishment with a national title in their final year together.
Growing up in suburban Maryland, sophomore forward Charles Thomas IV went by many different names.
Entering college is a stressful experience for any student, but especially so for student-athletes.
This week, senior swimmer Harrison Tran will kill two birds with one stone when he heads to the University of Texas.
Everything was falling the way of the No. 17 Badgers (6-2) Tuesday night as they downed No. 22 Syracuse, 77-60.
For a long stretch of No. 17 Wisconsin’s (5-2) practice Monday afternoon, members of the UW scout team sported pinnies specifically in preparation for tomorrow’s game against the No. 22 Syracuse (4-1). The mesh jerseys were appropriately orange as the Badgers worked on attacking the Orange’s infamous 2-3 zone. Monday was the first time the Badgers took out the orange pinnies, but after an overtime win against the Orange last season, a nearly identical Wisconsin team feels confident and prepared going up against the unique Syracuse defense. “I think we are a lot more confident this year than last year,” sophomore forward Charles Thomas said.
Around 4:00 p.m. Saturday, all this talk from myself and many others about the different College Football Playoff scenarios that may or may not involve Wisconsin looked like it could be for naught. The Badgers came out extremely flat against archrival Minnesota, allowing the Gophers to build up a 17-7 halftime lead that left the state of Wisconsin holding its breath. Luckily for Wisconsin fans, Minnesota imploded, thanks in large part to quarterback Mitch Leidner completing more passes to the Badgers defense (four) than to his own receivers (two) in the second half.
After a disappointing showing in the Maui Invitational Championship against North Carolina, Wisconsin shored up all their weak spots that led to the loss, and showcased the kind of high-level play expected of them.
With just under a week until the NCAA Tournament gets underway, No. 3 Wisconsin took the court this week and split its last two matches of the year to wrap up the 2016 regular season. Wednesday night, the Badgers (17-3 Big Ten, 25-4 overall) made their last appearance at the UW Field House this season, treating a sellout crowd of Wisconsin faithful to a four-set triumph over the Iowa Hawkeyes (19-12, 9-10). Three days later, set to encounter much stiffer competition, Wisconsin ventured off to Minnesota and fell to the second-ranked Gophers (17-3, 25-4) for the second time this season. Celebrating Senior Night at the Field House, the Badgers made it look easy Wednesday night, upending Iowa by a score of 25-15, 22-25, 25-16, 25-7.
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Solutions by The State News
