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Banged Up Wisconsin Badgers WBB Embarrassed on the Road Against Northwestern

The Wisconsin Badgers WBB program suffered an embarrassing loss to the Northwestern Wildcats.

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3 months ago

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Wisconsin Badgers women's basketball head coach Marisa Mosely

I don’t think the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team could’ve had a worse afternoon on Sunday if they tried. Not only did they get humiliated by Northwestern on the road, but both Serah Williams and Ronnie Porter left the game with injuries.

Against my better judgment, here is the full recap:

Wisconsin Badgers WBB Falls to Northwestern 69-43

Final Score

Wisconsin Badgers (10-11 overall, 3-8 Big Ten): 43
Northwestern Wildcats (8-14 overall, 3-8 Big Ten): 69

Four Factors

eFG%: 29.0
Turnover%: 26.8
Off. Rebound%: 29.6
FTA/FGA: 19.4

Key Stats

FG%: 25.8 (16-of-62)
Opp. FG%: 43.3 (26-of-60)
3P%: 15.4 (4-of-26)
Opp. 3P%: 35.7 (5-of-14)
FT%: 58.3 (7-of-12)
Opp. FT%: 80.0 (12-of-15)
Points Per Possession: 0.606
Opponent Points Per Possession: 0.986
Rebounds: 38 (13 offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 40 (nine offensive)
Turnovers: 19
Forced Turnovers: 15 


Team Leaders

  • Ronnie Porter: nine points (4-of-13 FG, 1-of-7 3P), seven rebounds (four offensive), two assists, -25
  • Serah Williams: 11 points (3-of-12 FG), 11 rebounds (three offensive), one assist, two blocks, one steal, -20
  • Brooke Schramek: nine points (4-of-13 FG, 1-of-5 3P), one rebound, one assist, one block, one steal, -24
  • Tessa Grady: six points (2-of-5 FG, 2-of-5 3P), five rebounds (four offensive), two assists, one steal, -11

Northwestern Team Leaders

  • Caroline Lau: 24 points (9-of-9 FG, 4-of-4 3P, 2-of-2 FT), six rebounds (one offensive), five assists, one steal, +22
  • Paige Mott: 14 points (5-of-14 FG, 0-of-1 3P), 10 rebounds (five offensive), two assists, one steal, one block, +29

Three-ish Thoughts on the Wisconsin Badgers WBB Loss to Northwestern

1. Northwestern hadn’t given up fewer than 66 points in a game this season. Northwestern came into Sunday’s game allowing 83.3 ppg (356th out of 360). Northwestern had given up 100+ in their previous two games. Northwestern’s lowest eFG% allowed this year was 35.2% and on average teams shot 52.1% (354th nationally). Teams were shooting 37.4% from deep against NU. Teams were averaging 1.11 points per scoring attempt (354th nationally) and 0.96 points per play (359th nationally) against NU.

Wisconsin scored 43 points against Northwestern on Sunday. Wisconsin’s eFG% was 29.0%, they shot 15.4% from deep, and they scored 0.63 PPSA and 0.49 PPP. Really, really, really, really, really bad. One of the worst games Wisconsin has played under Marisa Moseley

2. Serah Williams, despite leaving the game twice with injuries, continued her double-double streak (11 points and 11 rebounds). She now has eight in a row which puts her in a tie with Theresa Huff for longest streak by a Badgers player in program history.

She was obviously at the top of Northwestern’s scouting report but was still able to rack up a bunch of stats despite that. The rest of the team just declined to join her in that endeavor.

3. Williams (two times) and Ronnie Porter both left the game injured in the second half. Hopefully neither is serious because the Badgers do not have anyone on the bench to replace either of them. I’ve reached out to UW on Monday about their respective statuses and they said “as of right now [we] do not have updates.”

Natalie Leuzinger also left the game in the first quarter and didn’t return for the rest of the game.

4. Sania Copeland is in the midst of a SHOOTING SLUMP right now. In her last four games she has made one (1) three-pointer on 16 attempts and she has only made more than two three-pointers in a game three times this season. In her last 10 games, she is shooting 10-of-53 (18.9%) from beyond the arc. For the season she is shooting 27.4% (31-of-113). For someone who shoots as many bombs (64.2% 3P rate) as she does…this isn’t good.

Copeland is regularly tasked with guarding the other team’s best perimeter player, and she is doing an above average job of that, but that role can’t completely submarine her offensive contributions. She didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter and only played for 1:15 in the second quarter. Was she benched? Was Moseley playing matchups? Was Copeland banged up? It’s hard to say, but it wouldn’t be a shock if Copeland sat down due to her lack of scoring.

5. Wisconsin never led in the game and it was only tied for 28 seconds. Woof.

6. NU dominated on points in the paint with Williams out, outscoring Wisconsin 40-20 there. Paige Mott and Caileigh Walsh weren’t super efficient down there, but they were definitely getting whatever shot they wanted in the post. The ‘Cats also doubled up the Badgers on second chance points (15-7) which further showed Wisconsin’s struggles down low.

Final Thought

This game was a flat-out disaster for Wisconsin. Coming off a 38-point shellacking at the hands of Ohio State, the Badgers needed a bounce-back game on Sunday against a team that is more on their level. Instead of that, however, Wisconsin found themselves down 9-0 and didn’t score their first points until three and a half minutes had already elapsed in the quarter. UW was down 19-9 after one period and, even though they got the lead down to six just before halftime, they were never truly “in” the game the rest of the way. 


The closest they got to Northwestern in the second half was nine points, but the ‘Cats immediately went on an 8-0 run after that and never led by fewer than 13 points for the rest of the game. The ‘Cats scored just over their season average in the game but the absolutely shocking part of the game, as dissected above, was Northwestern’s defense. The Badgers scored 40 (!!!) points below NU’s average of points given up this season.

Northwestern came into Sunday’s game as the fifth worst scoring defense IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY AND WISCONSIN ONLY SCORED IN SINGLE DIGITS IN TWO OF THE FOUR QUARTERS!!! That is pathetic!!!!! UW’s 43 points is their lowest output of the season beating…the prior game’s low point total of 49. What a fun week!

I’ve really tried to stay more positive about the team this year and, for the most part, I think I’ve accomplished that. This loss, however, has sent me off the deep end. It sucks to have your two most important players miss parts of the game with injuries, but the Badgers were getting run out of the gym even with Porter and Williams on the court. There is absolutely no reason that this year’s Northwestern team should beat you once, let alone twice AND let alone in such embarrassing fashion as on Sunday.


This is the type of loss that needs to make everyone involved with the program take a breather and reevaluate what they’re doing wrong. Luckily UW has some time off and doesn’t have another game until Sunday, but a potent Penn State offense awaits and I’ll call it a successful afternoon if the Badgers lose by fewer than the 26 (!!!) points they lost to Northwestern by.

Next Game: Sunday, Feb. 11; vs. Penn State Nittany Lions; 2:00 p.m. CT; B1G+; Kohl Center

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Drew Hamm is a seasoned sports journalist with an extensive background in covering the Wisconsin Badgers. He has previously held positions as the site manager at Bucky's 5th Quarter and founder of Badgers Ball Knower. Currently, he contributes as a staff writer for BadgerNotes.com.

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