Throughout the Badgers’ (2-4 Big Ten, 6-10 overall) season, when the team finds itself trailing, it usually finds a way to wage a tenacious and heartfelt effort to climb its way back into games.
Following a tough, hard-fought loss against Michigan State last Saturday, the Badgers (1-2 Big Ten, 5-8 overall) looked to climb back over .500 in the Big Ten standings.
After opening the Big Ten season with a win earlier in the week, the Badgers (1-1 Big Ten, 5-7 overall) struggled in the first half of Sunday’s game en route to losing their first conference game of the season to the Michigan State Spartans (1-1, 10-3) 77-67. After trailing by a mere five points after the first quarter in East Lansing, Mich., the Badgers scored only nine points in the second period and went into the break down 14 points, a deficit that was too great for UW to overcome. Not only did the Badgers miss senior guard Tessa Cichy, who sat out her second consecutive game due to an illness, but also played almost the entire first half without Dakota Whyte due to foul trouble. Whyte picked up her second foul of the game with 7:43 to go in the first quarter and spent the rest of the half on the bench.
Wisconsin has had its difficulties closing out opponents at home this season, but thanks in large part to a career day from redshirt junior guard Zak Showalter, there was no drama at the Kohl Center Saturday afternoon. Showalter was a perfect 8-8 from the field, including 4-4 from behind the arc, to finish with a career-high 21 points.
After a momentous win for the football team in the Holiday Bowl less than 24 hours earlier, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team won its biggest game of the season, defeating Indiana, 73-69, in its Big Ten opener Thursday afternoon in Madison. Many expected senior guard Tessa Cichy to perform in a similar manner as her brother, Jack Cichy, did in the Holiday Bowl, but Tessa missed UW’s conference opener with an illness.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Back-to-back-to-back. It’s not a new Drake diss track, but it did come from a Wisconsin defender who was charged up.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Badgers’ 23-21 win over USC in the Holiday Bowl Wednesday was a great send-off for the UW seniors, as they were able to ride off into the San Diego sunset on top.
Omnipresent in Bo Ryan’s career was his high level of intensity, an insatiable desire to continually get better from play to play and, above all else, success. Another more impactful constant in Ryan’s coaching life has been Greg Gard.
After nearly four decades as a coach at the collegiate level, Bo Ryan has finally decided to hang up the whistle for good. Ryan, who turns 68 next week, announced his immediate retirement during an emotional postgame press conference following Wisconsin’s 64-49 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Tuesday night. “Extremely hard telling the players, as you can imagine,” Ryan said.
Often lost in the craziness of all the bowl games and national title talks is just how interesting the matchups can be.
Coming off one of the biggest wins in program history against Minnesota last weekend, the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers (12-1-1 WCHA, 18-1-1 overall) suffered their first letdown of the season this weekend. Wisconsin failed to score a goal against the No. 9 ranked North Dakota Fighting Hawks (8-5-3, 11-6-3) in either game, losing 3-0 Friday and tying 0-0 Saturday, winning the shootout to earn an extra point in the standings.
Even after Thursday’s loss to the Florida Gators, the Wisconsin Badgers (3-6) were both optimistic and confident heading into today’s game with Green Bay (6-2). But after their 72-58 loss to the Phoenix, the Badgers’ frustration and disappointment put a damper on any cheerfulness they had coming into Sunday’s game.
Despite eliminating a 14-point lead in the second half and having the support of one of the loudest student sections all season, Wisconsin (6-5) lost in the final 30 seconds of the game to in-state rival Marquette (8-2) at the Kohl Center Saturday afternoon.
After suffering yet another stunning loss to an unranked non-conference opponent at the Kohl Center, Wisconsin (6-4) will look to gain new momentum with a home matchup against Marquette (7-2) this Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
The parallels to Wisconsin’s season-opening loss to Western Illinois were too obvious to ignore as the game wore on and the panic level at the Kohl Center continued to rise.
The Wisconsin Badgers (3-4) host the Florida Gators (7-1) Thursday evening in their first home game since Nov. 18.
Nicole Bauman
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