The Wisconsin women’s hockey team faced off with the St. Cloud State Huskies this weekend at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
It’s been a long week for the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team. They’ve played four games in seven days to be exact.
Although they transpired under decidedly different circumstances, the story behind each of Wisconsin’s last two trips to the NCAA tournament feature exactly the same ending. A year after suffering a tragic defeat to Stanford in the 2016 elite eight match, the Badgers (11-9 Big Ten, 22-10 overall) once again watched their championship hopes collapse at the hands of the Cardinals (19-1 Pac 12, 29-3), losing by a score of 25-22, 20-25, 21-25, 19-25 in the Sweet 16 Friday night in California. UW’s loss was underscored by its inability to slow down Stanford’s electric offense, a unit which hit an astronomical .436 on the night.
While sitting on the bench as the final buzzer sounded in Wisconsin’s (1-1 Big Ten, 4-7 overall) 82-63 loss to Marquette (7-3), freshman guard Brad Davison buried his head in his sweat towel.
Playing without two of its top guards Saturday morning, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (1-1 Big Ten, 4-7 overall) looked lethargic early and struggled to slow down a high-powered Marquette (7-3) offense as the Badgers dropped the seventh of their last nine games, 82-63. Just before the game tipped off it was announced that sophomore guard D’Mitrik Trice, the team’s starting point guard, would undergo foot surgery Monday and would be out indefinitely.
After coming off of a win against UT-Rio Grande Valley Wednesday night the Badgers had one day to prepare for a tough Butler team.
With No. 4 Notre Dame traveling to the Kohl Center, Wisconsin was looking for what would be its best win so far this season.
Ethan Happ’s team hasn’t been closing out games. After another late collapse, this time against Temple, the frustration is starting to boil over for the redshirt junior forward and his teammates. “The biggest thing is just playing a full 40 [minutes]. Games that we've been right there in, it's been 20 minutes here and then a letdown for three and the lead gets away from us,” Happ said.
No. 12 Wisconsin (4-3-1 Big Ten, 10-7-2 overall) against No. 4 Notre Dame (8-0-0, 14-3-1). Wisconsin is 5-4-2 at home, and Notre Dame is 6-0-0 on the road. Last weekend, Wisconsin split a series with Minnesota and Notre Dame swept Michigan State.
Being in the moment and focusing on what lies ahead of you is crucial to game-time focus. Not dwelling on the past or looking too far into the future is what makes or breaks a player’s presence on the court. As the Wisconsin Badgers (11-9 Big Ten 22-9 overall)head into more competitive rounds of the NCAA Tournament, keeping loose and enjoying the moment are key principles in the team’s mindset.
After a dominating bounceback win against UTRGV on Dec. 6, the Badgers (6-4) will look to carry over some aspects from that game to their last non-conference road game on Friday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse against Butler. Last years’ matchup between the two teams saw an evenly contested game throughout the first 30 minutes of play, but it was the Badgers in the final 10 minutes of the game that capitalized down the stretch to get their first win of the season.
In its last series of 2017, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team (19-1-0, 10-0 WCHA) heads to St. Cloud, Minn., to take on the St. Cloud State Huskies.
Coming off the worst seasons in program history — just 12 wins over two years and back-to-back missed NCAA tournaments — the expectations weren’t very high for Wisconsin’s men’s hockey team in 2016-’17.
Sports editor Ben Pickman and men's basketball beat writer Thomas Valtin-Erwin discuss Wisconsin basketball's late-game struggles, grade its rotation players through ten games and discuss what it needs to do to turn around its slow start to the season.
Football: Jonathan Taylor emerged out of nowhere at the beginning of season, climbing a crowded running back depth chart to take the starting job.
The Badgers had a quick turnaround this week after losing to Marquette on Monday, but UW recovered and defeated the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 82-54 on Wednesday night.
First there was Xavier. Then there was Baylor. Following that, UCLA. Penn State nearly joined the club Monday night. For the fifth time already in the young season the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (1-1 Big Ten, 4-6 overall) collapsed down the stretch, blowing a late three-point lead to let Temple (5-2) steal a 59-55 victory. Things began swimmingly for the Badgers, as they stormed out to a 7-2 lead in the first 2:31 of the game.
An area which has caused substantial problems for UW in terms of its ability to close out games is its tendency to get out-rebounded.
After a two-game break to open conference play the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (1-1 Big Ten, 4-5 overall) will return to its non-conference schedule Wednesday as it head to Philadelphia, Penn., to take on the Temple Owls (4-2). After dropping four of five games to limp into Big Ten play, the Badgers nearly had the life drained out of them as they were run off the Kohl Center floor by Ohio State and nearly blew a 17-point lead at Penn State. Desperate for answers, UW now hosts a Temple team that already has four solid wins under its belt, having taken down Old Dominion, Auburn, Clemson and South Carolina to open the season. Led by the sharpshooting quartet of Quinton Rose, Shizz Alston, Obi Enechionyia and Josh Brown — who have collectively made 44.3 percent of their 97 three-point attempts — the Owls can score from anywhere on the court. Rose, who leads the team with 19 points per game, could cause major problems for the Badgers.
Milwaukee — “We are, Marquette! We are, Marquette!” roared from a ruckus and jubilant Golden Eagle fan base in the waning minutes of Marquette’s (4-3) 88-65 shellacking of the Wisconsin Badgers (5-4). From the outset, the Golden Eagle faithful created a home-court advantage at the Al McGuire Center that eventually would translate to their players as the game progressed.
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